


Where Flowers meet the Sky

by AntaresNull



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Lesbian Sex, Long-Term Relationship(s), Nerdiness, One Shot, One Shot Collection, One Word Prompts, Recreational Drug Use, Suicidal Thoughts, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-13 14:13:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16019594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntaresNull/pseuds/AntaresNull
Summary: Friends, enemies, rivals, lovers. No matter the reality, life makes fools of us all. A collection of one-shot short stories of green and blue eyes and the fire that meets between them.





	1. Scatterbrained

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:** "K+" for fluff and slightly spicy language  
**World State:**  Normal  
**Word Count:**  1,728  
**Summary:**  There are two words for it, in Ino's opinion; Scatterbrained and obsessed.  
**Credits:**  Lyrics at the top belong to Queen and come from their song "You're my Best Friend."   
**Authors Notes** _:_ A totally unexpected addition to the roster. Just something short and fluffy while I work on something more lengthy.  Lyrical credit goes to Queen and their song "You're my Best Friend."

 

* * *

_In rain or shine  
_ _You've stood by me, girl  
_ _I'm happy at home.  
_ _You're my best friend._

* * *

"Work-oriented" was one way to say it.

In polite conversation, one could also use "Type A" or "driven."

Ino preferred to call it "scatterbrained" ...when she was in a good mood.

"You are gonna kill yourself, forehead," Ino fumed. "This goes beyond obsession!" Sakura either ignored her or did not hear Ino's chiding. Her eyes were bolts of lightning between the medical tome and notebook before her, the scratch of her pencil less a pattern and more a hiss. Ino grumbled under her breath and set to work picking up books scattered across the floor, dog-earring the pages, and setting them on Sakura's desk in a neat stack. "One of these days I'm gonna walk in here and find your corpse still going through the motions."

After Tsunade-sama retired from her spot as head of the Konohagakure hospital, Sakura had been the natural choice to replace her. But where Tsunade had been somewhat lax in her responsibilites, Sakura had thrown herself headfirst into the fray, handling not only the administration but stepping into particularly problematic cases. All well and good, many had thought. With Sakura heading the hospital, it was likely even the common cold would be quelled and become a thing of the past. But Ino saw the problem.

It became all too frequent that Sakura would miss lunch dates or girls night out. More than once Ino would hunt her down at her office in the hospital either hard at work or passed out in a book. One memorable occasion had Ino attempting to wake her friend up only for Sakura's stomach growling doing the job for her.

With the floor now traversable, Ino stood in front of Sakura's desk with hands on hips and foot tapping impatiently. Sakura set her pencil down and stretched shoulders and vertebra going off like popcorn. She rubbed at her eyes and yawned before finally noticing Ino.

"Oh, hey pig. What's up?" she asked with a weary smile. Ino glared, lips pursed in annoyance.

"If this doesn't kill you,  _I'm_  going to kill you," she threatened. Sakura furrowed her brow in confusion.

"What?"

"I just came from your house," Ino said with a wild point in the wrong direction. "Wanna know what I was doing?"

"Uh, looking for me, I assume," Sakura replied, turning her attention back to her desk, ready to begin rifling through her notes. Ino snatched the notebook away and held it out of reach.

"No, I knew where you were. Where else? No, I was cleaning your pig pen."

Alongside the negligence to her own stomach and sleep cycle, Sakura's modest home purchased after the war had turned into a storage unit for discarded clothing and empty take-out boxes. After seeing the devastation, Ino decided it was time to step in. She pulled the medical tome away from Sakura, shutting it with a decisive thump.

"Hey, wha- Stop it!" Sakura cried as Ino hauled her out of her chair and began dragging her to the door.

"I will not. The front desk told me that you'd been here for  _twenty-two_   _hours_. You need food. You need  _a shower_. You need to relax before you keel over, forehead," Ino ground out. Sakura attempted to pry Ino's iron grip off of her wrist which seemed to make Ino all the more determined.

"Ino, I'm fine, really! There's work th-"

"No, you need this and you know it," Ino cut her off. "Otherwise you'd have no trouble escaping from me because we both know you could rip my arms off. So, if that's what you wanna do, then do it, because that's the only way you're stopping me."

The entire trip to her home, Sakura argued that no she would never hurt Ino and that Ino was acting ridiculous and that everything was fine and there was no need to worry and Ino tuned her protests out.

"Shower," Ino commanded with a point, shoving fresh towels and clothing into Sakura's arms once they were inside the now clean pig pen. "If I don't hear water running, I  _will_ bathe you myself and nothing will keep me from using a scratch pad." Sakura protested even on her way to the bathroom and Ino could have sworn she could hear Sakura muttering to herself before the water turned on.

Satisfied that her demands were being met, Ino made for the kitchen.

Sakura emerged from the shower to the scent of fried meat, her stomach suddenly feeling very concave. She found Ino in the kitchen rolling dumplings as strips of beef sizzled in a skillet. Ino glanced over her shoulder.

"Sit," she said with a point at the table. "There's a fresh pot of tea." Sakura felt a great upwelling of gratitude for her friend, but still...

"Ino, thank you, but this really is unnecessary," she said as she took her seat anyway.

"Yes, it is necessary," Ino replied firmly, slicing vegetables with perhaps a bit too much force. "If you keep at things the way you are, you really are going to kill yourself and I have no plans on letting you do it. I need you around to keep my own head from getting too big."

Sakura smiled and poured herself a cup of tea as she watched Ino bustle around. Despite her protests, Sakura was privately glad to be home, especially with her best friend. With her preperations complete, Ino set a plate of dumpling skewers spaced with beef and veggies in front of Sakura.

"Eat." Ino sat down next to her and poured a cup of tea.

"You're not eating?" Sakura asked, suddenly feeling bad about being the only one eating. Ino shook her head.

"Already ate. We were supposed to meet for dinner, remember?" Ino asked with a pointed stare over her tea. Sakura groaned and thumped her head into her hands.

"Oh, gods, Ino. I'm so sorry." Ino waved the apology away.

"I'll let it go this fiftieth time, but I need something from you, forehead," she said seriously. Sakura looked up quizzically. "Please, if not for your sake then mine, lighten up. You have an entire staff working for you, let them do some of the work. What's the point of being the boss if you don't get to take it easy once in a while?"

"It's just not that simple," Sakura said. "We're on the verge of revolutionizing the Cell Activation technique, the progress we've made-"

"The progress isn't going anywhere," Ino interrupted. "It's established in those hundreds of notebooks of yours. Now eat, I'm getting offended that you're ignoring my excellent cooking skills," she finished, folding her arms across her chest with a sniff.

Though Sakura would only ever grudgingly admit it out loud, Ino was a good cook. It didn't hurt either that she had prepared one of Sakura's favorite dishes. Ino watched happily as Sakura stuffed her face with her first homecooked meal in months, chatting about anything that crossed her mind and watching Sakura slowly unwind.

"I gotta admit, for a pig, you know what you're doing in the kitchen," Sakura sighed, patting her full belly.

"Yep, look at me applying practical skill," Ino smirked. "Meanwhile, with all that forehead, you'd think there'd be enough brain in there to figure out that you're supposed to sleep in a bed and not on a desk. Speaking of." Ino stood and pulled Sakura up out of her seat. "Bed."

"It's not even seven yet," Sakura said with a glance at the wall clock. Ino changed course without missing a beat.

"Movie time."

Ino browsed the pitiful collection of movies Sakura had on her shelf; all rom-com. Until a surprising one caught her eye.

" _Kung Fu Bustle_? Really?" she asked with a grin. Sakura shrugged with a grimace.

"Sometimes you need a lame, cheesy movie," she said making Ino's jaw drop.

" _Lame_?  _Cheesy_? Are you serious? This movie is great!"

The movie was nearly over by the time Ino realized Sakura had drifted off. They had huddled up under the same blanket to laugh at the citizens of Hog Alley and gasp at the obvious wire-fighting kung fu synced to overly dramatic music.

"Man, that gives me chills every time," Ino admitted as the hero defeated the bad guy with the Burning Palm Strike of the Hundred Stars. Sakura snorted in response. "Oh, not impressive enough for y-" Ino cut off realizing that it hadn't been a snort, but a snore. She probably should have noticed that Sakura was drooling on her shoulder, but  _damnit_  was it a captivating movie.

Ino considered quietly letting herself out without waking Sakura, but decided that it went against everything else she had done today.

"Hey, forehead," she nudged her friend, instantly startling her out of sleep.

"Hm? Wha-? Oh hell, I fell asleep on you," Sakura muttered seeing the movie credits scroll by. She became aware of the drool at the corner of her mouth and stealthily tried to wipe it away on the blanket, but cringed seeing it drying on Ino's shoulder. Ino stood and stretched.

"It happens. Sometimes people are so dazzled by me they just totally lose conciousness. But now it's bedtime for real. Do I need to tuck you in? I'm not gonna find you back at the hospital in an hour?" she asked, fully expecting that she might.

"Nah, I got the message. I think I'm gonna sleep for a good twelve hours," Sakura said rising to her feet. She lunged forward suddenly, catching Ino in a fierce hug. Ino let out an "oof" in surprise but happily returned the hug.

"Thanks for looking out for me, pig," Sakura said, planting a kiss on Ino's cheek. Ino smiled and mirrored the smooch.

"Anytime, forehead."


	2. Tiny Things

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:** Mixed  
**World State:**  Mixed  
**Word Count:**  1,539  
**Prompts** : Drink!, Trust, Tourniquet, Snow, Eyes

* * *

 

_**Prompt:**_ Drink!

_**Rating:**_  T

* * *

"C'mon, forehead, you'll fe-el better," Ino hiccupped, a pink flush across her nose as she rubbed Sakura's back in small, soothing circles. Sakura began to shake her head in rough denial before realizing it was a bad idea with a groan, swaying on her knees as she steadied herself against the bathroom counter.

"I'm never fucking drinking again," Sakura gasped after a dry heave left her gripping the toilet bowl for dear life. Ino could only snicker.

"Like I've ne-ver heard that before." Ino clambered up from her spot on the floor next to Sakura and perched on the edge of the bathtub. "Now, c'mon! Hurl so we can g-et back to my party!"

"Not gonna- Don't wanna-" Sakura mumbled under her breath. A thick burp escaped her followed by a shuddering groan. Ino was beginning to regret playing the gracious hostess and escorting her completely sauced friend to the bathroom when a devious thought crept into her alcohol-soaked brain.

"Well, o-kay, if you're not gonna. Just don't th-ink about that one time-" she began. Sakura, drunk or not, still retained the ability to whip her gaze at Ino and glare. She knew which time Ino was talking about.

"Ino," she growled, moving to brace herself against the toilet rather than move to threaten bodily harm. "I fuckin'  _swear_ -" Ino ignored her and had plowed on heedless.

"-where Naruto ate all of that barbeque at Choji's birthday and then  _sooo_  much of that cake. Remember the icing? That really pale green stuff, tasted almost kinda minty. And, oh  _god_ , the color it had turned when he-"

Her words were cut off by Sakura retching and the splash of her heaving the contents of her stomach into the bowl.

" _Ew-w-w_! What did you drink that was  _pink_?!" Ino cried shielding the view with a hand and mentally cataloguing her alcohol supply, turning up with nothing. Sakura was too busy quivering and panting to answer. "Feel better now?" She rubbed Sakura's back a bit more.

"Maybe," Sakura moaned, pulling the toilet lever. Ino stood, swaying just a bit and carefully hauled Sakura to her feet.

"Arright, forehead. Let's go g-et you some water."

_Author Note: Fireball Whiskey comes out pink. Just FYI._

.

.

.

.

_**Prompt:**_  Trust

_**Rating:**  _K

* * *

_I wish it had been this easy with the kunai_ , Ino mused.

The scissors in her hand easily sheared through the pink locks before her. Every now and then, Sakura would pick up the hand mirror on the table and look at the progress, verdant eyes catching cerulean with a happy gleam.

"I don't know why you came to me rather than go to a salon, forehead," Ino had commented during the first occurance of the now bi-monthly ritual in the back room of the flower shop."I mean, I'm a florist not a hair dresser."

"Because," Sakura had replied almost bashfully, "I liked the way it looked when you fixed it."

"Choppy? Rough? Amateurish?"

"It just...felt special. It had heart in it."

Ino threshed her fingers though Sakura's hair, dislodging any loose strands. She pulled the towel from around Sakura's shoulders and started sweeping up while Sakura admired her handiwork.

"Looks great, pig," Sakura smiled into the mirror. "Wanna go get lunch?"

"Nah, I gotta watch the shop," Ino said ruefully before quirking her eyebrows with a small grin. "But if you wanted to bring something back, we could eat here." Sakura beamed.

"You got it! What do you want?"

"I trust your judgment," Ino smiled.

.

.

.

.

_**Prompt:**_  Tourniquet

_**Rating:**_  K

* * *

Ino told herself that she was happy for her.

She was happy when a little crying girl picked herself up out of the dirt and learned to stand on her own. She was happy they renewed their bond after so many years of pointless squabbling.

She told herself that she was happy when she was finally marrying the boy of her dreams. She told herself that she was happy when she stood as a bridesmaid next to her. She told herself she was happy when Sakura kissed him.

She told herself that she should be grateful that she still got to time to spend with her.

It would have to do. There was no other choice by that point and her chance had passed long ago.

But as long as she was able to stay close, she could staunch the heartache.

For her.

.

.

.

.

_**Prompt:**_  Snow

_**Rating:**_ T

* * *

"It's so pretty out."

Sakura glanced over her shoulder. Ino stood in the door way, oversized purple sweater hanging almost to her knees, a mug lifted to her lips and a second one in her other hand.

"If you can call all of this fluffy, white bullshit 'pretty,'" Sakura gestured out the window at the foot of snow on the ground and more falling on top. "Makes training impossible, it's a pain to go anywhere," she muttered as she accepted her mug of cocoa. It was made just how she liked; tiny marshmallows, whipped cream, a fine grating of cinnamon on top.

"Well,  _I do_  think it's pretty," Ino replied taking her spot at Sakura's side. "Besides, it just means we'll have to have fun at home." Sakura glanced sideways with a suspicious squint. Ino had said it so matter-of-factly, but she couldn't hide the small upturn at the corners of her mouth or the gleam in her eye.

"Do you ever turn off?" Sakura asked with an accusatory good humor. Ino licked the rim of her mug, turning that gleam fully on Sakura.

"Nope." Sakura rolled her eyes and huffed a small laugh. "But," Ino said with a warding raised finger, her face serious, "it is cold, no matter how pretty it is. So, I suggest something with plenty of bodily warmth." Sakura laughed fully now.

"You could just say it, ya know?" she asked. "' _I'm horny._ ' There, see, it's not hard."

"My way is more fun," Ino said with a sniff, "besides, I wanna finish my cocoa first."

"Good point," Sakura conceded. The watched the snow fall in silence for a moment, their hands finding one another and fingers linking. "Is there any whipped cream left over?" Sakura asked as casually as she could. Ino grinned.

"See? That's how you're supposed to play! But, yes, there is. Plenty."

Sakura nodded sagely like Ino had divulged a secret of the universe.

"Guess we'll just have to stay home today."

.

.

.

.

_**Prompt:**_ Eyes

_**Rating:**_ T

* * *

Sakura refused to meet Ino's gaze, not that it kept Ino from trying.

It eventually became impossible for Sakura to plan anything for their anniversary without the mind reader finding out about it. Planning on the day of became the norm and in turn became something of a game.

Ino would wake Sakura with soft kisses planted on her face, hoping to be the first thing she saw. Sakura would tuck and roll out of bed like she was dodging kunai on the battlefield. Ino tried convincing Sakura to help her pick out a dress while attempting to catch her eye in the mirror.

Ino succeeded in the tiniest glimpse when Sakura stumbled into the bathroom as Ino applied her makeup for the day. A tiny flash of red hidden deep in green eyes.

"You're not ruining the surprise this year!" Sakura growled at the floor, storming from their tiny shared house as Ino called out after her.

The attempts to find Sakura in the hustle and bustle of the town were fruitless and Ino returned home later that night with her own gift in tow. Sakura had filled their living space with countless books even as Ino fought for space with flowers and potted plants. The bag over her arm was light, but carried a veritable bounty hidden inside the bright packing paper: an old book of poetry and fairy tales, the leather "finely aged" as Sakura would have put it.

When she opened the door, hundreds of tiny, pale coriander blossoms greeted her, a trail leading down the hall. Ino chuckled. In the language of flowers, coriander blossoms represented lust.

" _Come get me, I'm yours,_ " the trail practically screamed.

"Just when I thought you couldn't get cheesier, fore-" Ino began as she pushed their bedroom door open only to find the words caught in her throat.

"Wow."

Dozens of pale red candles dotted the room, casting flickering light on Sakura who had sprawled herself artistically across their bed. The dark red lingerie fit her beautifully, right down to the last garter. The tiny sheer negligee hid nothing, but the big red bow across her chest made up for it. She smiled with crimson lips and Ino felt her pulse launch into overdrive.

"I'm glad I didn't ruin the surprise this year," Ino muttered already shucking her clothes.

"So, come unwrap me," Sakura purred, crooking her finger lazily.

Ino automatically went to meet Sakura's eyes but stopped herself, content to let the rest of the night be a surprise as well.


	3. A New Memory

_**CONTENT GUIDE**_  
**Rating:**  "T" for swearing, alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts, implications of sex  
**World State:**  Normal  
**Word Count:**  5,123  
**Summary:**  As one tragedy in a string of tragedies, Ino loses her parents and falls into a self-destructive depression, pushing away the one person who can save her.  
**Author Notes** : This story comes from my old profile, but is now updated and fixed for grammar and spelling and the like. Hopefully this updated version is far superior to the original, though I'm not completely fond of it.

* * *

 

The Rinne Festival.

A time of cheer, love, peace...

...and Ino couldn't stand it.

Ino pulled her coat tighter around her slim body and turned the collar up against the wind. It was a good coat. Long and black with a wool lining that turned away all but the most bitter of winter gales. Ino didn' t like this coat. Too many bad memories clung to it like a chainsmokers haze.

It had been a gift from Shikamaru last year. She tried it on as her teammate hesitantly delivered a gut punch alongside it. He was leaving Konoha. Temari had been called back to Suna to serve in an administrative position, being the sister of the Kazekage, and Shikamaru intended to accompany her

Ino had felt her world tremble. Her teammate, one of her greatest friends, who she had known for years, was gone. And when it rains, it pours. That year, on the night of the Rinne Festival, her parents had returned to their home, only to fall asleep in each others arms in front of their fire place before snuffing the flames. Stray embers had leapt from the fire and set the house ablaze, smoke smothering them in their sleep, fire consuming them and the Yamanaka house.

In the days preceeding and the weeks following the funeral, Ino lived in a haze. Her performance on missions began slipping. When a trap she could have avoided nearly claimed Choji's life, she retired from the ninja profession entirely.

Now, living in a small apartment on her own, managing the Yamanaka flower shop into the ground, Ino felt a like a pit had opened in her. The memories bubbling out of it left a shroud of sorrow and rage hanging over her at all times. She became a recluse, avoiding contact with anyone and everyone, her only friends left being the bottles she crawled into every night.

Dark thoughts and voices whispered to her on the nights she didn't cry herself to sleep. A bottle of sleeping pills. A warm bath with a sharp edge. To slip off into impersonal, unfeeling sleep and never wake.

Only one thing kept her from ending it all.

In the days following the funeral, she had scrounged up enough money to buy her little apartment only to fall into her bed with enough energy to only weep. Though a number people sent condolences and a few even turned up in person, only one stayed. Sakura was there every day, trying to help turn the apartment into something livable. When she wasn't cleaning, she would cook even though most of the meals would go untouched.

Even then, in her spare time, she was almost always sitting on the edge of the bed; attempting to comfort her grieving friend, going so far as to lay down and hold her when Ino's misery would crescendo. Ino would cling to her like a drowning man would cling to driftwood in the ocean, soaking her shirt with tears and burying sobs in her shoulder.

The icing on the cake had been the teddy bear. Sakura had set the little thing on the bedside table on her first visit. It wore a little red shirt that said I HEART YOU in big white letters, its fuzzy little arms outstretched and waiting to dole out fuzzy little hugs. Looking at it only made her cry harder, knowing that someone cared about her so deeply. That, in the throes of grief when it felt like the universe was fucking with her, someone was still there for her.

In the final days, as her grief faded into an empty, numb void; a revelation struck her like an arrow from a bow. Sakura, tending to her apartment. Sakura, caring for her beneath her pall-like cloud. Sakura, opening her heart and crying with her. Sakura, from the fateful day they had met in the park to now, had always been there. Through war, and terror, and tribulation; Sakura had been there.

She felt stupid for how long it had taken for her to realize it. It was one of the few memories that Ino held dear and close to her heart. The moment she realized that she truly loved Sakura more than she had anyone else.

* * *

"Ino," Sakura called out to her friend quietly, stoking Ino's mane of long platinum. "Inooo." Ino was face-down in her pillow, blankets strewn and contorted around her.

She could tell Ino wasn't sleeping, the trembling and squeaks of suppressed sobs gave it away. Sakura watched her friend sadly. She head never seen Ino so torn up before, even in the war when they had both been knee deep in the wounded, dead and dying.

"Ino, c'mon, talk to me," Sakura whispered, seizing one of Ino's hands, giving it a squeeze. To her surprise, Ino squeezed back and turned to look at her. Watery, red-rimmed eyes surrounded by black circles met her own.

"Do I have to?" Ino croaked, voice unused to actual speech.

"I'd like it if you did," Sakura said sadly, stroking the backs of Ino's fingers with her thumb. To her further surprise, Ino sat up and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Ino hunched over, hiding her face in her hands, groaning with stiffness and lingering misery. Sakura carefully put an arm around her, rubbing at her shoulders.

"Did I do something wrong?" Ino asked eventually, after a silence had pressed upon them. Sakura tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura. Ino choked out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

"I must have done something wrong. Why else would life start bending me over the barrel, huh?"

"You have done nothing wrong," Sakura said firmly, squeezing her friends shoulder, "Bad things happen to good people that don't deserve it all the time. You just have to be strong and-"

"'Be strong,'" Ino sneered, launching up from the edge of the bed and out of Sakura's grip. "Go ahead and bury your family and tell me how easy it is to be strong." She paced frustratedly from one wall to the other, tears welling in her eyes once more. "Yeah, bad shit happens. But saying it doesn't make it any fucking easier."

"I'm just trying to help you," Sakura said, hurt creeping into her voice, her own eyes beginning to glisten. She stood and went to Ino, pulling her into a tight hug. Ino put up a token resistance before all but slumping into Sakura's arms. She nuzzled into Sakura's shoulder, ready to begin sobbing all over again.

"Why?" she asked in a sob, "Why, why, why?" she asked, not meaning to receive an answer for her parents death.

"Because you're my friend," Sakura breathed, stiffling a sob of her own. "Because you're my friend, Ino. Because I love you too much to leave you alone in this." The hug tightened and Ino's breath hitched as the words and a kiss to the side of her head cut through.

"W-what?" Ino asked in a voice that was barely a whisper. She pulled back and saw only caring and love in those teary green eyes.

"I love you like you're a part of myself," Sakura replied with a weak attempt at a smile. She pulled her sleeve over her fingers and gently patted at Ino's tear-streaked face. "I hate seeing you like this."

The thought had been rolling around in her head for years. But now, this close and this intimate, Ino wanted to tell her. She wanted to bare her raw soul and pour it all out, but the thought that Sakura wouldn't feel the same stayed her tongue. The fear that she might drive her friend away with a declaration of love made her want to sink into the floor right then and there. She settled for returning her face to the crook of Sakura's neck, finding comfort in her warmth and scent.

"I love you too, more than you could possibly imagine," Ino breathed, quietly at peace for the first time in days, if only for the moment. Sakura tightened her grip on Ino, swaying gently on the spot as silence fell over them once more.

"Ino..."

"Hm?"

"You need a shower."

* * *

Ino fumbled with the keys to her apartment door, a paper bag tucked under one arm, the bottle inside already broken into on her walk home. Months had passed since she had gave up her rank of chunin. Many had tried to talk her out of it, insisting that she simply needed a break, but Ino was resolute. Choji's near-death was enough to spell it out to her. If she was incapable of helping a life-long teammate, regardless of her own situation, then she did not need to be in the field with anyone.

It also served as a decent excuse to not talk to anyone. She stopped answering her phone and bought an answering machine, returning calls only sporadically, just enough to let people know she was still alive, at least. Even Sakura was subjected to her rejection. Her own irrational fear of her secret getting out made sure of that. Whenever she would catch a flash of pink or the sparkle of green eyes in the crowd, Ino would quickly duck around the nearest corner and hide, looking back to see a hurt and dejected girl turning and wandering away. Ino made the mistake of making eye contact with her after running away. The pain in Sakuras eyes was unbearable for Ino and she slumped down onto the ground and cried.

In one of her drunken nights, Ino realized the irony of it all. She was terrified of Sakura learning that she was in love with her and pushing her away, only for her to push Sakura away to keep the secret.

It tore Ino's heart out to sit and listen to Sakura's voice messages. Usually they were calm and questioning. But at other times, they were tearful and pleading. Eventually, the calls stopped coming all together. Ino still caught glimpses of Sakura around the village, but she seemed...different, like all the life had drained out of her. There was no more bright smile on her face, no longer any gleam of cheerfulness in her eyes. She didn't even look around anymore in the hopes of spotting her friend.

Ino tumbled into her apartment, shucking off her coat and shoes, falling onto her couch with her bottle in hand, not even bothering to get a glass. She was only a few swigs away from numbness when the phone rang. She let it go, as usual, and listened to the machine switch on.

_"Hey, it's Ino. Obviously I'm not here or else I'd be talking to ya. Leave me a song."_

Ino snorted with disgust at how chipper she sounded in the message. She choked on a pull from the bottle, spilling some down her front when the caller began speaking.

"Hi, Ino. It's Sakura." came the soft voice from across the wires. "Um, listen, I know it's been a while and we haven't talked in so long...but I was wondering if maybe you'd like to come over for dinner some night before the Rinne Festival." Ino, coughing on her drink, staggered to her feet to stand over the answering machine, staring at it like it was a lifeline out of hell itself. "You know, it'd be just the us two. We can chat over dinner and catch up or whatever."

Ino was torn: her heart leapt at the chance to be able to see Sakura again, maybe even that smile that could light up a room, but her head said no with a firmly planted foot out of fear. Sakura let out a deep sigh that came as a rush of static through the speaker, her voice softer now. Ino felt like a thousand pounds had fallen on her shoulders.

"And I'll completely understand if you don't want to." Tears crept to Ino's eyes at Sakura's whimpering. "I...I m-miss you, I-Ino. It feels like when we were fighting over Sasuke. Only then, there was a reason for us not talking, as stupid as it was, but I don't see one now." Sakura voice hitched and Ino sobbed for her, covering mouth as her bottle fell from limp fingers. Ino sank to her knees, vodka pooling and sinking into the carpet next to her. Management was going to raise hell about it, but Ino couldn't have cared less in that moment. She just wanted Sakura to stop...

"Stop what?" Her brain asked her heart. "Stop talking? Stop breathing?"

"Please, don't cry, Sakura," Ino sobbed from the floor, sunken into a fetal position. "Please," she whispered.

"I-I-I don't know what I did to make you hate me, Ino, but I w-want you to know...this is the last time I'll try to call you." Ino felt sick, her arms banding tightly around her stomach.

"If I don't get your call by Rinne...I'll accept that I've done something t-truly horrible and it has cost me your friendship."

"Don't say that, Sakura. Don't say that." Ino moaned over and over again into her knees.

"I-If I don't get the chance to say this face to face to you, I'll say it now." Sakura took a deep, shuddering breath. "I wish you the best, Ino, I'll always miss you. Good bye."

Ino didn't know how long she laid there after Sakura hung up. This was it; now or never. She had already shoved away everyone that had ever meant anything to her and was now in danger of losing the most important one of all out of her own fucking cowardice.

Hours later, she shakily picked up her phone and made the call. She chewed her thumbnail nervously as the phone rang...

and rang...

and...

"Hello?" The voice that answered sounded like it belonged to someone who either had a very bad head-cold or had recently been crying.

"Sakura..."

* * *

The next day, Ino stood nervously on Sakuras front step, the phone call from last night played for the umpteenth in her head.

* * *

_"Sakura..." There was a gasp from the other end of the line._

_"Ino? I-I-Is it really you?" Ino let go of a breath she didn't know she had been holding, she expected Sakura to be full of anger, not hopeful happiness._

_"Yeah...yeah, it's me forehead," Ino replied, playfully using Sakuras old nickname. Sakura made a small strangled noise that could have been a giggle._

_"Oh w-well...I, um, h-how've you been?"_

_"Oh fine," Ino lied. "Other than feeling ashamed of myself and feeling like an idiot, fine."_

_Sakura remained silent. She didn't have to ask why._

_"Sakura, I don't hate you, I never did."_

_"Then why...were you avoiding me?" Sakura sniffed._

_"For a really stupid reason." Ino said. "It's something we would have to talk about face to face. Do you think you're free on, say, this weekend?"_

_"W-what? Does...that mean-"_

_"Yeah, forehead, it does, I'm coming over."_

* * *

Ino reached forward and knocked on Sakura's front door. After her talk with Sakura, Ino got directions to Sakura's new home and was surprised to find that it wasn't that far from her apartment. The walk there left her stomach roiling, part from excitement, part from fear as butterflies fought with her nerves.

The door was pulled open and there stood Sakura, clad in a dark red sweater and a tiny black skirt, thick warm-looking socks pulled up over her knees. Ino felt quite unworthy in her own faded blue long-sleeves and jeans that had seen better days.

"Ino!" Sakura exclaimed brightly." Come in, come in." Sakura ushered her inside to a warm and cozy entrance way and closed the door behind her. Ino noted the lovely, dark, cherry wood flooring and walls.

"Wow. Nice pad, Sakura," Ino whistled. She felt a pair of soft, warm hands rest on her shoulders from behind, pulling gently at her coat, offering to take it. Ino allowed it and took her shoes off at the door.

"Thanks," Ino heard Sakura say. Ino turned to take a look at Sakura, and was seized around the waist by a pair of arms Ino was sure could snap her like a twig. "Now, I'm never letting go." Sakura said, resting her chin on Ino's shoulder. Ino smiled and returned the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around Sakura's shoulders. They stood there a moment, simply enjoying the reach from across the chasm Ino had seperated them with.

"You got here right on time," Sakura said breaking the hug, "Dinner's ready." She beckoned for Ino to follow her down the hall.

"Thought I smelled s-something good," Ino stammered out, momentarily struck by Sakura's form in front of her. The curve of neck to shoulder, the sway of her hips as she walked. "What are we having?" she recovered.

Dinner ended up being a side of roast beef dressed with a number of steamed vegetables including, to Ino's delight, cherry tomatos. The dining room was a spacious thing, decked with the same dark cherry wood. The table had already been set, two plates loaded with food already waiting. A small candelabra sat to one side, pale pink candles burning merrily.

"Whoa, tryin' to romance me or something, forehead?" Ino joked with a quirked brow at the candles, ignoring the fresh wave of butterflies in her guts. Sakura laughed, a noise that made Ino's heart soar to hear.

"Psha, you wish, Pig. I'm not that desperate," she said with a playful punch at Ino's shoulder. Ino feigned a breaking heart, throwing the back of one hand to her forehead dramatically.

"Curses, my only chance, gone!"

"Oh, stop!" Sakura said with a playful swat this time. "Let's eat."

Ino had been worried ever since the phone call that any conversation would be difficult and stilted, but as they tucked into their food the words fell into place like it had only been days rather than months since they had lost spoken.

Ino kept the conversation flowing toward Sakura as much as she could, not completely proud that her only notable achievement was how high her alcohol tolerance was now. Sakura spoke easily, not completely able to keep the beginnings of a smile from the corners of her mouth. She told Ino how she had made Jonin, but ultimately tapered off the number of missions she accepted so she could be of more use at the hospital.

Sakura was halfway through a story involving Tsunade, a genin missing an ear, and a particularly angry renegade goose when Ino froze mid-laugh. Something warm and fuzzy was rubbing against the inside of her calf, her immediate thought being...

 _"There's no way. No way she's trying to play footsie with me!"_  But then her stomach fluttered as the warm something rubbed higher, closer to her knee. Sakura paused, realizing Ino's sudden living statue act.

"You okay?" she asked as Ino suddenly leaned down to look under the table, expecting to see a hastily retreating sock. Instead a bolt of gray lightning shot out from under the table, streaking straight for her face. Ino gave a squeal and shoved away from the table, nearly toppling her chair over backwards.

"What the hell was that?" Ino asked, staring down the darkened hallway where the gray streak had vanished as Sakura laughed merrily.

"It was just Kaori." Sakura stood and padded down the hall returning a moment later with a little gray kitten cradled in her arms.

"Kaori?"

"Yeah, Kaori," Sakura said nuzzling the little kitten. "She's my baby." Ino rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

"Oh please, you're gonna make me barf." Ino wiggled a finger at Kaori. The kitten batted at said finger and nipped lightly at the tip causing Ino to smile again.

"Here," Sakura said, gently pressing Kaori into Ino's arms, "There's a lounge that way on the left. Get comfy while I tidy up a bit, unless you weren't done."

"No, no. I'm finished. I think I'd explode if I ate another bite," Ino joked. Sakura loosed another bubbly giggle that caused Ino's stomach to turn cartwheels. Ino had always loved her smile and her laugh. She wondered how she could have ever thought she could live without both in her life.

Sakura scooped up the plates and headed for the kitchen while Ino explored the hallway, peeking in through different doorways. Eventually, she came across a room that had to have been the lounge. There was a black, stone, fireplace complete with a crackling fire. A Rinne altar stood in one corner, glittering in red and gold, a small stack of gifts sitting atop it. Squishy looking armchairs dotted the room and parked right in front of the fire was a gorgeous, white, leather couch.

Ino looked down at Kaori and found herself being stared at with stunning green eyes that were frighteningly similar to her masters, Ino found an immediate affection for the little animal.

"I don't know if your mommy lets you on the couch, so you can sit on my lap." Ino said to Kaori while plopping down on the middle cushion of the couch. Kaori sat, very well-behaved, on Ino's lap though she continued looking around and mewling pitifully, obviously wondering where her "mommy" had gone. Ino reached out a finger, that again Kaori tried to attack first, and gently scratched under her chin, her mewls were immediately replaced with a contented pur.

A nerve twinged in Ino's shoulder and she winced, rubbing at the offending site. She wasn't quite sure what she had done to it, but being the type of person that passed out wherever she happened to be in her apartment probably had something to do with it. Ino jumped when Sakura whispered in her ear and as fingertips already glowing with chakra gently prodded at the nerve.

"Right here?" Sakura needed no further direction when Ino groaned, her head lolling to the side to grant better access. With all of the expertise she had, Sakura molded muscle and nerve, undoing knots Ino didn't even know she had. She sank into the couch, ready to melt into a puddle, not even reacting when Sakura carefully slipped her fingers into the neck of Ino's shirt to directly massage the smooth bare skin of her shoulder. Ino let her head fall back, almost ready to doze and looked up at a smiling Sakura.

"Better?" Sakura asked. Ino gave a small exhalation through her nose and smiled.

"You've nearly de-boned me," she replied, "I don't think I've ever felt this loose in my life."

"Oh? Wanna feel looser?" Sakura asked walking around the couch to sit next to Ino and bringing with her a long-necked magnum. "Can I tempt you?" She asked with a near vampiric smile.

"You act like I'm hard to tempt," Ino laughed. Sakura took a small gulp and passed Ino the bottle. Kaori had given a small meow and moved from Ino's lap to Sakura's, rubbing up against Sakura's flat tummy. Ino went to take her swig and nearly choked in surprise.

"Whiskey?" Ino asked as the potent liquor registered on her tongue. "Never pictured you as a whiskey kinda gal, Sakura." Sakura looked up from her snuggle session with Kaori, who was situated in a very desireable part of Sakura's anatomy.

"Yeah, every now and then." They slipped into silence, quietly passing the bottle back and forth. Kaori gave a displeased "Mia", hopped off Sakura's lap, and wandered off in search of something more interesting to do than sit quietly with a pair of drunkards. They could feel it hanging in the air, the proverb in the room. Ino had been dreading this moment from the second she had hung up the phone the previous night. But there was no getting around, especially if she wanted to keep Sakura in her life, even if only as a friend.

"Ino?" Sakura asked finally.

"Mmm?" Ino's stomach knotted, heart fluttering.

"Why?" Was all Sakura had to ask, her voice just above a whisper. Ino opened and closed her mouth several times with nothing to say. She turned to face Sakura, curling one leg up beneath her, Sakura did like-wise.

"Well, it's...difficult to say," Ino began slowly, trying desperately to keep eye contact with her friend and failing miserably. Few knew how to pull off the kicked puppy look as well as Sakura could. The pinket sat with her hands in her lap, picking nervously at a worn down nail, emerald eyes a maelstrom with the emotions swirling through them.

More than willing to blame the whiskey, Ino reached out and gently took one of Sakura's hands in her own. The butterflies shot into overdrive when Sakura twined their fingers together. "I can only say that I was an idiot; a total fucking idiot," Ino muttered, her eyes down as she traced small shapes on the back of Sakura's hand.

"Ino?" Sakura asked quietly.

Ino had hardly enough time to look up before Sakura leaned forward and pressed her lips to Ino's. Ino froze, heart thudding behind her ribs.

 _"Kiss her back! Kiss her, damn it!"_  Ino shrieked at herself.

As quickly as Sakura had leaned in, she flinched away like Ino had slapped her when she realized that she was the only participant in the kiss. Sakura covered her mouth and turned away, tears blossoming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry." Ino barely heard Sakura whisper. Ino reached and gripped Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura, I-"

"I'm so sorry," Sakura leapt to her feet and moved to leave the room. Ino followed her, catching her at the wrist.

"Sakura, wait!" Ino cried. Sakura stood there before her friend, head down, quivering. Ino shifted her grasp down from Sakuras wrist to her fingers, squeezing gently. Ino placed a few fingers under Sakura's chin and turned her face up. Slowly, green eyes met blue and Ino could see steady streams of tears leaving shiny trails down soft skin. Ino gently cupped Sakura's cheek, brushing tears away with her thumb. Sakura put up no resistance to keep Ino from touching her, instead nuzzling gently against Ino's palm.

"What do you mean by it? Are you drunk?" Ino asked quietly, almost afraid to hear the answer. Sakura shook her head. "Then what does it mean?" Sakura gazed deeply into Ino's eyes, a mixture of sadness and shame upon her beautiful features.

"I...I think I..." Sakura took a shuddering breath "...I love you."

"F-for how long?"

"I don't know, a long time." Sakura began, her voice utterly miserable. "But then you started ignoring me and avoiding me and I thought you had found out and hated me for it. And then...- What's so funny?"

Ino couldn't remember the last time she had laughed so hard. Sakura stepped out of the embrace, folding her arms stiffly across her chest. She could hardly believe that her best friend was laughing at her most closely guarded secret. She glared as Ino's laughs subsided into hiccups.

"Nothing's funny forehead," Ino coughed out, the first flare of genuine happiness lifting her heart, "Nothing about you. It's me."

"Well then, Pig, care to enlighten me?" Sakura asked, reverting to the old childhood taunt. Ino smiled wide and placed an arm around Sakura's shoulders.

"I would love to, forehead." She drew Sakura in close and pressed her lips to Sakura's cheek and left a trail of soft kisses along her jawline.

"Ino, what are you-" Sakura breathed before Ino placed a finger vertically across her lips, silencing her.

"Shush, forehead," Ino whispered replacing her finger with her lips. Sakura did not freeze like Ino had before, but it took her a second to realize exactly what was happening. She leaned into the kiss and the several feather-soft ones that followed. Ino pulled back and was rewarded by the charming pink Sakura's face had turned.

"You, Ino, you...you're-" Sakura stammered. Ino smiled and brushed a few stray locks of hair away from Sakura's face.

"Yeah, forehead, I love you too." Ino leaned again and was rewarded with a fiery and passionate kiss, a gentle tilt of her head allowed their tongues to dance as their teeth clashed. Without fully realizing how or when, Ino found herself on the couch with Sakura hovering above her.

"This is why I was avoiding - you." Ino explained in between kisses. "It's because I was afraid you'd find - out and that you'd - hate me for it." The separated with a small wet pop, both flush and panting.

"I guess life likes to throw curveballs sometimes, huh?" Sakura asked. Ino huffed out a small laugh, considering every other pitch life had hit her with.

"I guess it does, forehead," Ino murmurred, pulling her new love down for another long and slow kiss.

* * *

Ino woke before Sakura the next morning. The bed sheets were tangled around them both and Ino had a hell of a time freeing herself without waking Sakura. Ino almost gave up on the hunt for her panties before finding them hanging from a lampshade. Ino wrote Sakura a quick note after dressing, apologizing to her for allowing her to wake up alone, but she did still have the flower shop to look after. Quietly stealing downstairs, Ino slipped on her coat and let herself out, she was still unable to believe the amount of work her tongue went through last night.

As she pounded down the street, Ino decided that her coat wasn't so bad after all, now that she had a happy memory in it.


	4. More Tiny Things

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating** : Mixed  
**World State:** Mixed  
**Word Count:** 1,883  
**Prompts:**  Sable, Cure, Mark, Treat

* * *

  _ **Prompt**_ : Sable

 _ **Rating**_ : T

 _ **Word Count:**_ 358

* * *

 

Purple had always been her color. It made the golden length of her hair that much brighter, complimented the cerulean of her eyes, and made her skin that much more luminous. In the heat of high Summer, she wore whites and yellows; light and airy sundresses that turned her into a cheery sunbeam to match the breezy chime of her laugh and her fiery passions.

But black...

Black made her a work of art. Majesty in monochrome. Sensuality in sable.

"You look amazing," Sakura breathed when Ino knocked and Sakura opened up. The tiny black slip rode Ino's hips snugly and showed off more thigh than it hid. A plunging neckline traded in modesty for pride, but Ino was a firm believer of "flaunt it if you got it," so it did not matter either way. A massive black pearl nestled comfortably in the hollow of her throat, hanging by a tiny chain from the black lace choker around her neck.

"Hello to you, too," she smiled, stepping inside. "I could say the same to you, though, forehead," she teased, lasciviously running her eyes up and down the slightly more conservative, but no less beautiful silver sheath Sakura had picked for their evening out. Ino drew close and slipped one hand to Sakura's waist, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "And don't tell anyone, but I look amazing out of this dress, too."

The touch of Ino's lips just below her ear had Sakura reconsidering dinner in favor of testing that claim, but there were steps to this dance that when followed would only make latter half of their night that much more satisfying. Particularly for being magical date number five.

"I'll just have to take your word for it," Sakura replied as non-chalantly as she could despite the blush across her nose. "But the restaurant won't hold our reservations forever, ya know?" She regretfully disengaged from Ino and picked up the tiny clutch that matched her dress. "Shall we?" she asked, offering Ino her arm. The blonde laced her arm smoothly with Sakura's with a smile.

"Let's," she said and they struck off into the night.

.

.

.

.

 _ **Prompt:**_ Cure

 _ **Rating:**_ T

 _ **Word Count:**_ 299

* * *

 

There are a multitude of perks that come with dating a medic-nin.

For one, Sakura could spot the beginnings of a cold from a mile away and insist that Ino increase her vitamin C intake. Even when an illness would take root, Sakura would know exactly what to bring home whether it was a nasal spray or a pill the size of a thumbnail.

For two, when she wasn't working herself to the bone at the hospital, Sakura was a natural housekeeper. Ino would have trusted her if she had said they wouldn't need to dirty any plates for dinner because the floor was clean enough. Maybe.

For three, though Sakura was more concerned with the physical health of the body, she was more than enough mental and emotional stability for Ino when her own job became too much to bear alone.

But, arguably, most importantly...

"'M grna tn nta pda," Ino groaned into the pillow, stripped above the waist while Sakura's magical hands went to work. Chakra loaded at her fingertips kneaded and massaged knots out of Ino's back and shoulders that the head of T&I hadn't even known were there. 

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Sakura asked, cocking one ear closer. Ino lifted her head and repeated the previously muffled declaration. 

"I'm gonna turn into a puddle, forehead," Ino groaned. "Just what the doctor ordered."  
  
"I'd write you a perscription if I didn't think you'd abuse it," Sakura teased, gliding her thumbs up the back of Ino's neck. Ino thumped back into the pillow, a snarky reply dying as a wordless whimper of ecstasy.

To hell with it. There would be time for sarcastic jibes later Ino thought before even that was driven from her head as Sakura found a new muscle to turn to liquid.

.

.

.

.

 _ **Prompt:**_ Mark

 _ **Rating:**_ K

 _ **Word Count:**_ 331

* * *

 

Her weapon of choice poised and ready, Ino froze as her target sleepily shifted, fortunately remaining face up. 

Good. It wouldn't have worked any other way.

She lowered the fine sharp point to unsuspecting skin and traced slowly; the thin red line left behind as she went from chin to cheek, up around eyebrows with a sharp dip between them, and down the other side to return to chin.

Satisfied, Ino labled her target and left her own signature below the name. 

And now, to wait...

Ino was up the next morning and already at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee before Sakura woke. She fought to keep her face straight as the pinkette shambled in with a sleepy grunt of "Hey, pig."

"Mornin', forehead!" Ino chirped brightly, ready to taste blood in her mouth from biting the inside of her cheek so hard. "Sleep good?" Sakura muttered something unintelligible, seemingly torn about pouring a cup of coffee of her own before deciding the call of nature was far greater. Ino finally let a wide grin split her face as Sakura turned and made for the bathroom.

_3...2...1..._

" _WHY?!_ " came the shriek a moment later as Ino finally busted her gut with the hitherto successfully held laughter. Sakura stormed into the kitchen, green eyes practically on fire as Ino waved the red permanent marker at her. She couldn't tell if Sakura's cheeks were red from scrubbing or indignant fury, but it _so_ didn't matter. The red heart outlining Sakura's face was just as cute as it had been last night, as was the _Forehead + Pig 4ever_ on her forehead.

"'Cuz, _I love you_ ~" Ino wheezed, half sprawled across the table and knowing it was the only reason she wasn't currently a smoldering crater in the floor. Sakura growled something about work in thirty minutes and how it _was not_ going to come all the way off, but Ino had redoubled with fresh laughs and heard none of it.

.

.

.

.

 _ **Prompt:**_ Treat

 _ **Rating:**_ K

 _ **Word Count:**_ 856

* * *

 

"C'mon, just one more!"

"No."

" _Please_? I swear, it's the last one," Sakura begged.

Sakura had decided she wanted to learn the art of making sweets from Choji, a mutual friend they both knew from college, and took to it like a natural. So much so that Choji had decided he wanted hire Sakura full time for his bakery-slash-candy shop after nearly weeping in benedictive bliss when he tasted her "Cherry Blossom Cordial."

She had been at it nearly the entire day. A collection of neatly colored boxes had slowly stacked up on the counter as she rattled down the list of their friends intent on giving them each a unique Christmas treat. Sour rock candy for Sasuke who loved nothing sweet. Peanutbutter and chocolate chip cookies for rambunctious pro-am skater Naruto. Salted, dark chocolate fudge for former-professor-turned-close-confidant Kakashi. Tiny little cinnamon rolls for sweet Hinata. Dozens of little cubes of salt-water taffy for Kiba, who loved nothing more than something to chew and gnaw on.

The snow had steadily piled up on the window sill as the sun made way for the clouded navy sky. Ino had been out on her own shopping ventures earlier in the day and was flabbergasted to find Sakura _still_ at it when she had returned.

Ino let her book thump down into her lap as she gave the apprentice confectioner and the miniature tart in her hand a critical look. She would, of course, try it. But there was no point in doing so if she wasn't going to give Sakura a hard time about it.

"You're just trying to make me fat so you look better in comparison, aren't you?" she accused. Sakura set one fist on her hip, eyebrows furrowing.

"And your amazing skills as a psychologist fail you. I would attempt no such thing because I _already_ look better!" Ino raised a single pale eyebrow.

"You have a weird way of trying to talk me into ruining my diet even further." Ino picked up her book, a worn and battered copy of " _The Doors of Perception_ ," and made to lose herself once more in the mescaline-riddled brilliant madness of Aldous Huxley. Sakura seized her by the wrist, turned her palm up, and deposited the little treat in Ino's hand.

"Well, if it's already ruined _and_ I already look better in comparison, it should be no issue for you to try _just one more_ ," she replied, turning on one heel smartly and marching back to their apartments little kitchen. Ino stared after her roommate, stunned at the leap in logic, before turning her attention to the final snack.

_And damn it if Sakura didn't know how to tempt!_

The tiny little tart was still a little warm on the bottom, clearly having just come out of the oven, the crust at that perfect spot between soft and chewy and crisp and flaky. The dollop of creamy white in the center gave her pause; it could have been anything. The whole cherry, seemingly Sakura's signature, pushed down into it was so shiny and juicy that it was beginning to stain the cream surrounding it light pink.

Ino sighed, diet smashed to flinders as she gave up her calorie count for the day, and bit the thing in half.

_Sweet vanilla pudding. Ho...ly...shit..._

The vanilla blended wonderfully with the cherry and the graham cracker crust bound it all together in a paste of pure _deliciousness_ that stuck to her teeth. She waffled briefly between devouring the rest in one bite and stretching it out in little nibbles, knowing Sakura would never let her live it down if she went back for more. She settled for the former and decided it was worth it either way.

"So, uh..." Ino cleared her throat, leaning casually against the wall. "Any more of those? I think I need one more to be sure of my decision," she said solemnly. Sakura was just finishing neatly placing the rest of the tarts in one of her little boxes. She shot a knowing grin at her friend.

"Good, huh?" she asked, not even bothering to hide the taunt in her voice. She put the lid on the box and slid it onto the top shelf of their refrigerator. Ino's eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Why are those going in there? Don't you have deliveries to make?" she asked with a poke at the stack of boxes. Sakura's grin only widened.

"Well, those are actually for you, but you can't have any until Christmas day rolls around," the utterly evil confectioner said. "Merry early Christmas!"

"That's just cruel! You're gonna make me wait? Do you really think everybody else is gonna wait until Christmas to start eating theirs?" Ino asked increduously. Sakura laughed at her friends obvious distress.

"No, I don't think they'll wait. But if you help me deliver everything, then you can have one more befo-"

Ino already had her coat on and had thrown Sakura's at her face. When Sakura disentangled herself, Ino already had several boxes in her arms and was making for the door.

"C'mon, then! We have Christmas joy to spread!"


	5. I've Made a Good Living by Dying

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:**  "M" for light gore, implied rape, heavily implied torture  
**World State:**  A.U.  
**Summary:**  "All good things die, sooner or later. Not even flowers are meant to last forever."  
**Word Count:**  6,079  
**Credits:**  Chapter title is a reference to the Draconian song, "Bloodflower." Lyrics at the top belong to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and come from their song, "Into my Arms." "So we'll go no more a roving" was written by Lord Byron

* * *

  _And I don't believe in the existance of angels_

_But looking at you, I wonder if that's true_

_But if I did I would summon them together_

_And ask them to watch over you_

* * *

" _Come closer, little one._ "

The Little Sister worried that she had an overactive imagination.

There were perks to being assigned the back of the procession, namely no one got to see her look around rather keep her head bowed in prayer with hands clasped at busom. The High Monastery was a beautiful place full of vaulted ceilings and high-flying stained glass. The courtyards were especially wonderful. It was part of the daily work for each Sister to work outside and maintain the gardens and trees to appease the gods.

Passing through on their way to the prayer hall with the other girls, The Little Sister felt her eyes drawn to the tower at the Southern-most end of the South courtyard. For as long as she could remember, the South Tower was forbidden to all but the High Priest and Priestess. Often she wondered why, a tower was simply a tower. Alongside her own unfavorable status, she couldn't help but feel a curious affinity for it and examined it at a distance when she could.

Today, as she drew parallel with the tower, she glanced to the side and discovered something new. Set flush to the ground, barely visible between two large bushes of St. John's wort, was a window laced with thick iron bars. The Little Sister paused, the rest of the procession moving along without her. She stared, fascinated by such a small thing.

" _Please, little one. It's lonely here._ "

The Little Sister looked around wildly when the voice first spoke, seeing no one but her Sisters leaving her behind. It was not until the voice whispered a plea, that she saw the arm extending from the window, slowly waggling fingers in an attempt to gain attention. The Little Sister felt her heart speed up.

A Sister?

A prisoner?

With a glance forward as the last of the procession drew around the corner and a quick look around to make sure she was alone, the Little Sister scurried across the lawn. The arm withdrew when she got close, a pair of pale hands now gripping the iron bars. The Little Sister ducked behind one of the bushes and peered into the darkness.

"Hello, little one," whispered a pale face barely visible in the gloom. The Little Sister stared. The woman looked like a drawing out of one of the old holy texts, like a sacred maid or priestess, though not like any of the priestesses she knew, they were all old and wrinkled. Though her cheeks were sunken in, and her golden hair matted, and dark circles ringed pale blue eyes that seemed to glow, she was still beautiful, even dressed in the rags that she was. "I'm happy to see you."

"Why are you in there? Don't you know it's forbidden!" The Little Sister hissed through the bars. The woman huffed out a quiet laugh.

"It doesn't matter why I'm in here anymore, I've been in here so long," she replied. "I'm just happy you came to visit. What's your name?" she asked.

The Little Sister shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't have one," she said eventually. "Everyone here just calls me 'Little Sister.'" The woman frowned.

"How do you not have a name? Everybody needs a name, especially sweet little girls like you."

The Little Sister recounted the story told to her by one of the priestesses. She was an orphan, her parents having abandoned her on their doorstep late in the night when she was still a squalling infant. The monastery was hesitant to take her in, deeming the unnatural magnolia-coloring of her hair to be an ill omen, only made worse as her eyes shifted to a vibrant green as she aged. In the fourteen years at the only home she had ever known, she was shunned and looked down upon.

"I will give you a name, then," the woman said after a moment of silence and watching the sad young face before her. "Return tonight and I will have a name for you," she promised. She released her grip on the bars and slowly reached out. The Little Sister drew back a tiny bit at the sight of dirty nails grown long and sharp. The woman saw and pulled back, a look of regret on her face as she returned to gripping the bars. "Promise you'll come back?"

The Little Sister chewed on her lip. It would be risky to sneak out of the dormitories after dark. But looking at the hopeful face hovering in the dark, she made her decision.

"I promise," she said, mustering her nerve and reaching out to gently brush her fingers across the back of a pale, cold to the touch hand. The woman smiled.

"It will be a good name," she whispered, sinking back into the dark like she had never been. The Little Sister hurried away to catch up with the others and, as she had guessed, had not been missed.

* * *

The Little Sister crept quietly through the darkened halls, every shadow making her jump with the threat of a priestess looming from around each corner. The moon was high, casting silver across the gardens, highlighting the beginnings of the morning dew yet to come. The Southern tower loomed like a dark sentry against the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The space between the St. John's wort was dark and she approached cautiously, trepidation slowing every step.

" _Hurry, little one. I have a story to tell you._ "

The Little Sister was certain she wouldn't have heard the woman whisper it from so far away, but tamping down on her nerves, excited to have a name of her own, she knelt down by the bars.

"Hello," she called softly, considering rapping on the bars like manners dictated one would knock at a door. Pale arms threaded through and wrapped around the bars and a ghostly chin rested atop one of the horizontal bars. The woman smiled, genuine happiness dancing in her eyes.

"I have your name, little one," she said, her skin almost aflame in the moonlight.

"What is it?" the Little Sister asked, butterflies swooping through her stomach, making her shiver in an already chilly night.

"Long ago, I traveled the crossroads at the four compass points. I went wherever my feet would take me and more places I desired besides," the woman said, looking whistfully up at the moon. "I saw many different lands, and a thousand brilliant things in each.

In a land far from here, across tall mountains and harsh deserts and the churning foam of the sea, I came to a land of many peculiar things and charming people. They ate their food with thin strips of wood rather than forks and knives. They built massive shrines and castles to their gods, sometimes right on the surface of lakes. They wore beautiful robes of silk in every color you can think of and wore armor made of wood. It was in this peculiar land that I saw a tree far more beautiful than any I had seen before. With all of the grace of a willow and the resolution of the oak.

"They called it a  _sakura_  tree and the flowers that grew from it were the same color as your lovely locks," the woman said, reaching out to gently brush a few stray strands of hair from the Little Sister's forehead. The Little Sister could see it in her head as the woman described the petals blowing in the wind, more beautiful and friendlier than snow. "Your name, little one, if you would have it, is  _Sakura_."

The Little Sister felt like she had changed then and there. A name all her own.

"Sakura," she said the word slowly, feeling each syllable fall from her mouth. "My name is Sakura." The woman covered her wide smile with a hand.

"Do you like it?" she asked, excitement evident in her voice. Sakura nodded quickly with a wide smile of her own.

"I do, thank you," Sakura said with a respectful bow of her head. A thought occurred to her then. "What's your name?" she asked.

"When I roamed the deserts, they called me S _habh_. In the North forests, they called me  _Draugur_." The woman trailed off, a hint of regret tinging her voice. "I've forgotten more names than I think I ever had of my own."

"You said that you were an orphan, yes?" she asked gently after a moment. Sakura nodded, having long gotten used to the idea of not knowing her parents unlike the other girls that had heads full of memories. "I'm an orphan, too," the woman said, "I have long since forgotten any family I may have had." A playful gleam came to her eye. "Since we are both alone in this world, why don't we share the same far away land?" she asked.

"Okay," Sakura replied, eager to have another connection to her new friend.

"In this far away land, there was a great field of tall grass that was practically a sea in its own right. I lived in that field for a long time, dancing under the stars and sleeping in the shade of old trees. I do not remember if the field had a name or became named for me, but they called it  _Ino_. So that is what you may call me, if you wish."

"Ino," Sakura said, testing this new name out as well. "It's very pretty." Ino smiled again.

"Not as pretty as Sakura, I think." Ino reached out to gently pat the back of Sakura's hand. So enamored with her new name and new friend, Sakura paid no mind to Ino's dirt-lined, sharp nails. Sakura hissed in a breath through her teeth and fell onto her bottom from her crouched position as Ino gasped. The offending hand flew to Ino's mouth. The scratch was shallow, but stung fiercely, a little ruby of blood leaking from one end.

"Oh, my dear flower," Ino whimpered, "Please, forgive me. I can kiss it better." Ino stretch one arm out as far as the bars would allow, Sakura just out of reach. Sakura looked up from the scratch to her friend and felt the breath catch in her throat. Ino's smile was gone and a decidedly unfriendly look appeared in her eyes that reminded Sakura of the cats that chased the rats through the monastery. It was a mean look. A hungry look.

"I- I need to go," Sakura stammered, climbing to her feet. "Th-the priestess might know I- I'm gone now." She had barely moved a step when Ino hissed.

"At least let me look at it!" Her nails raked the air like she could pull Sakura back by that alone. Sakura felt a clawing fear in her belly and turned tail, fleeing across the gardens as quickly as she could.

" _Come back! I'm sorry..."_

Ino's harsh whisper rang in her ears all the way back to her bed where she shivered and hid beneath the covers for the rest of the night.

* * *

Several days passed before Sakura returned to Ino's window.

Sakura threw herself into her daily chores. As long as she kept moving...

As long as she kept scrubbing the floors in the main transept with the other girls. As long as she kept sweeping the shady little cloisters in the North courtyard. As long as she helped peel the vegetables for their dinner. As long as she did all in her power to make the gardens as beautiful as they could be.

Morning and evening prayer became impossible.

In the quiet times when she was to be still and offer her thoughts to the gods, her only thoughts were of a dark window surrounded by the bittersweet smell of the St. John's wort. Sakura imagined that Ino was even lonelier now that she hadn't come to visit since that night. The guilt weighed heavily on her mind one night as a cruel and cold wind made the gaps in the windows whistle.

Slipping out of bed and taking one of the two blankets off of her bed, Sakura made her way to the South courtyard. The wind was bitter and wild and made her pull her plain robes more tightly around herself. She paused briefly on the way to the St. John's wort to pluck a single flower from the gardens and whisper fervent apologies to the gods. Ino's window was no more or less threatening than it had been previously. The moon hung in the sky at such an angle that the moon beams fell directly on the bars. But Sakura found herself still hesitant, remembering the look in Ino's eyes. She knelt down and called out quietly.

"Ino?" The only reply was the cry of the wind and a single lone cricket. She peered into the window, but could see nothing beyond the small patch of light that touched the bare stone floor. "Ino?" she tried again, a little louder this time.

_Silence_

Sakura began rolling the blanket tightly, ready to push it and her plucked flower through the bars, when the whisper came from the darkness.

"Little flower, you came back."

Sakura jumped and peered through the bars, Ino's pale, ghostly face barely visible in the dark beyond the moonlight.

"I- I thought you might be cold," Sakura said, holding the blanket up in offering. Ino drifted closer, her thin face glowing in silver, making the ugly purple bruise on her cheek that more prominent. She tilted her head, an odd expression on her face.

"You thought I would be cold?" she asked. Sakura nodded and helped feed the rolled up blanket through the bars. Ino held it like it was a priceless relic before folding it to close her chest. "Thank you."

"I, um, brought you this, too," Sakura said, holding out a bright yellow daffodil. Ino's eyes widened as Sakura came right up to the bars and carefully maneuvered the flower through. If Ino had thought the blanket to be some great treasure, then she looked at the flower like she was viewing a piece of essential life.

"The priestesses say that flowers have their own language and each flower means something different," Sakura explained as Ino gently plucked the flower from her hand. "Daffodils are for forgiveness. They say 'let's put the past behind us and begin again.'"

"Do they?" Ino asked, her voice soft. She lifted the flower and filled her nose with its scent, eyes fluttering closed.

"I'm sorry I didn't have a bowl of water for you to put it in," Sakura apologized. Ino looked up, her smile torn between gratitude and sadness, and shook her head.

"All good things die, sooner or later. Not even flowers are meant to last forever," Ino replied, smelling the flower again. "I'm sorry I hurt you, little flower. I...lost myself," she continued, her voice falling low.

"It didn't hurt so much," Sakura said, turning her hand over to show the almost totally healed mark. "You just...frightened me, that's all." Ino slipped her hand through the bars and gently took Sakura's hand in her own. Sakura could not feel that Ino's hand was like a block of ice as her own fingers were starting to go numb in the unseasonably chill wind.

"Then I'm sorry that I scared you, as well. And I swear upon my own life that I will never cause you harm or fear again," Ino said firmly. She gazed up at the moon and seemed to think. "You should return to your bed, little flower. The night wear on and it's far too cold out. But," she trailed off with a smile, "I have more stories to share with you, if you would stop by another time."

* * *

And so became their routine.

Whenever Sakura could sneak away, whether shirking her duties to do so or late under the moon, she learned of the world outside the walls of her home.

Every night, Ino would have a new and exciting story for her, some so favorable that Sakura would ask for repeat tellings every now and then. And every time, Ino looked like nothing could make her happier.

The tales Ino spun could have filled a hundred books as near as Sakura could reckon. She spoke of far off lands that were forever covered by snow, where even the bears had white fur to help them hide. Massive ships were places of excitement and danger as swords clashed and cannonballs roared. Open-air bazaars that wavered under the hot sun and over blazing sand. Quiet forests for the dead to rest and the spirits to wander. Long forgotten mountain-top shrines to gods that no one could remember. And through them all, there was more love and heart break that could not be captured by even the greatest poem or-

"What is poetry?" Sakura had asked one night in the middle of the story. Ino's eyes had widened in shock.

"You don't know poetry, little flower?" she had asked incredulously. When Sakura shook her head, Ino gathered her thoughts and took a deep breath:

_So, we'll go no more a roving_

_So late into the night,_

_Though the heart be still as loving,_

_And the moon be still as bright._

_For the sword outwears its sheath,_

_And the soul wears out the breast,_

_And the heart must pause to breathe,_

_And love itself have rest._

_Though the night was made for loving,_

_And the day returns too soon,_

_Yet we'll go no more a roving_

_By the light of the moon._

"Is all poetry sad, Ino?" Sakura had asked, eyes glistening.

"No, not all of it, little flower," Ino had replied, wiping away the one tear that escaped to roll down Sakura's cheek. Ino spent the rest of their time speaking of the joys of love; how when you love someone, you feel like you could float away. How a kiss could set every nerve in the body on fire, turning an already floating body into a star.

And Sakura asked.

"A kiss," Ino said, beckoning Sakura close, cupping warm cheek in icy hand and pulling her in, "is something like this." And Sakura felt her nerves blaze.

Some nights, Ino would not appear in her window. Sakura had very little sleep on those nights, fearing that Ino was gone, or worse still there and ignoring her. After bonding so tightly to her, Sakura found it all the more painful to be alone even though she was surrounded by her other sisters.

But Ino would always be back the next night, sporting bruises or refusing to hold Sakura's hand for days even though it was requested. Sakura asked repeatedly why and how. And for three years, Ino refused...until...

"They fear me," Ino said quietly, staring with her one good eye at the central tower of the monastery. Sakura had wept at seeing the angry wound Ino had tried to hide behind her golden hair. "But fear not, my little flower. Some day, I will be free of these bars and I will take you from this place, if you so wish, and you will see everything I've told you of. I'll show you how to fly away."

Three more years passed and though Ino would forever refer to Sakura as 'her little flower,' Sakura had grown into a beautiful young woman. A beautiful,  _and restless_ , young woman.

"There must be something I can do to help," Sakura insisted one night. The smile that crossed Ino's lips screamed volumes.

"There is, actually. How dearly do you love your gods, my little flower?"

* * *

It is late in the night and Sakura is out of the dormitory, though this is nothing new for her.

What is new, however, is the path she intends to take.

Much like the South tower, the central tower was forbidden to the sisters, young and old, until they became priestesses. The central tower was unlike anything Sakura had seen in the monastery. Unlike the bare stone floors she was used to, thick plush carpets kept her feet warm and silent as she crept through the dark halls, climbing staircase after staircase. Beautiful painting adorned the walls, showcasing crystal oceans and sun-dappled forests and fields that seemed to blaze in setting suns.

It was  _staggering._

Before they had departed the last night, Ino had told her what to expect. That the High Priest and priestesses lived like royalty while the sisters scurried to their demands and lived like the poor.

"The gods they ask you to love are but creations of their own devising so you'll keep their home pretty and their gardens blooming. I tried to stop them, before they put me in here. They fear me, the fear us, Sakura."

Ino's words echoed in hear ears as she mounted the final steps to the top floor. If the stairs and floors below were for royalty, then the top floor was for a god. Golden chandeliers hung above, all but a few of their candles snuffed to fortuitously light her way forward. True to Ino's word, the High Priest slept with his door unlocked.

"To allow the priestesses out when he's done with them," Ino supplied with an angry sneer when asked why.

The High Priest's chambers were lavish beyond anything Sakura could have imagined, even with Ino's stories whirling through her head. Thick purple drapes hung over the tall windows, obscuring all but the thinest sliver of moonlight. In one corner stood a mighty desk of dark wood. As Sakura crept forward, she thought she could hear voices coming from the door at the other end. Throwing caution to the wind, Sakura pressed her ear to the thick wood unable to make out anything but the bass rumble of the High Priest and the higher voice of a priestess. It sounded like the priestess might have been weeping.

Sakura hurried away from the door, dread blooming in her stomach as her face reddened. Ino had described what happened behind closed bedroom doors and took great care in warning her exactly what happened behind the door of the High Priest.

The key Sakura sought was on a large ring with two other keys, precisely as Ino had described; and she would need all three.

"Take the path along the wall when you come out. There is a door there that leads into the tower."

"Try not to pay attention to the room you encounter behind that door," Ino had warned, touching her own cheek beneath her ruined eye.

Sakura kept low behind the crenelations on the wall as she made her way to the door. The first key she tried had it open on oiled hinges. Sakura kept Ino's advice and made for the door on the other side as quickly as she could. But she still saw the iron table on one side and sharp instruments hanging from the walls on the other. Hot anger flared in her belly as she unlocked the second door and took the spiral staircase down. All her life, it had been lies. The door at the bottom had a barred window, and much like her other experience with barred windows, Ino's face floated in it.

"Little flower," Ino smiled widely, teeth Sakura had found long ago shiny and sharp. Sakura turned the final key and threw herself into Ino's waiting arms.

"There's just one last thing to do before we can fly away," Ino murmurred in Sakura's ear. Sakura didn't care. Anything to finally fly away.

* * *

The return trip through the halls was far easier with Ino striding beside her. Ino didn't seem the least bit concerned with staying hidden, though she seemed to have no trouble doing so. Whenever Sakura would glance at her, Ino had found the darkest shadows to pass through; even her golden locks refused to catch the moonlight.

On the top floor, the door to the High Priest's room swung open briefly to allow a priestess into the hall. Ino pushed Sakura into the corner and stood in front of her, a finger raised to her companions lips. Sakura watched in amazement over Ino's shoulder as the priestess passed directly behind, wiping at her tear-streaked face, and completely ignoring the two women in the corner.

"How?" Sakura mouthed when the priestess made it to the stairs. Ino smiled.

"I may be weak, but I'm not powerless," she whispered back. But then her face grew pensive as she glanced down the hall. "Little flower, I would ask you not to follow me in there." Ino cupped Sakura's cheek and met her verdant eyes with her single cerulean. "I would prefer you not see what has to happen." Sakura felt her stomach sink and her heart flutter in panic. Traversing the halls with Ino had left her feeling fearless. The thought of being alone in these darkened halls again after seeing a priestess walking them...

"B-but what if-" Sakura began before Ino cut her off kiss. Sakura wanted to float and drift among the sparse stars of the chandeliers.

"I will be back, little flower. And even if you should be found, I promise that nothing will come of it once I'm finished," Ino whispered against Sakura's lips and kissed her again before pulling away and gliding down the hall. Sakura pressed more tightly into the corner and waited, the silence pressing heavily on her, sound only muffled further by the carpets and drapes surrounding her.

Time seemed to drag as she stared into the darkness where Ino had vanished and the nervousness gripping at her innards flared. With no warning,there was a tremendous crash from down the hall and the High Priest's door was smashed to flinders. The High Priest himself followed, falling on his back, face and neck smeared with blood. He rolled over, moaning, his attempt to crawl away halted by a long-nailed hand dragging him back into the room.

"No! N-" his cries cut off with a thick gurgling. The silence had returned once more, punctuated by thick slurping sounds that made the hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stand on end. Despite Ino's request, Sakura wandered forth and peered through the door. The sight that met her had her gasping, hand flying to her mouth.

Ino on her knees at the High Priest's side, her face buried in the torn and bloodied ruin of his throat. Ino whipped her head up, sensing Sakura's presence at the door. She was on her feet in a flash, delivering a strong kick to the corpse that put it on its face. She tried to wipe the blood away from her mouth, but succeeded in only smearing it further. The look in her eyes was almost like guilt.

_Eyes_!

"Ino!" Sakura rushed forward, skipping around the body and catching Ino's face in her hands, staring into two pale, glowing blue eyes. With a start, Sakura realized it wasn't the only thing different. Beneath the blood, her face was fuller and soft, cheeks no longer like those of a starving woman. The black circles that had ringed her eyes were gone as well, and her eyes held a gleam that Sakura had not seen before.  _Triumph._

Ino had been beautiful before, but now she was mesmerizing. Even with blood on her lips and staining her teeth as she unleashed a macabre smile.

"I just needed a decent meal, little flower," she said, pulling out of Sakura's grasp. She crossed to the bedroom and returned carrying a thick, dark robe over one arm. She beckoned Sakura to follow lead her to one of the tall windows and pushed it open, stepping out onto a balcony that overlooked the South courtyard.. A warm and gentle breeze carried over them, ruffling their hair and carrying the scent of thousands of flowers. Sakura felt her stomach seize as Ino stepped up onto the railing and took a deep breath.

"Come up, Sakura." She held Sakura's hand and helped her keep balance as she climbed up. "Are you ready to fly?" she asked, gripping Sakura's hand tightly. Sakura felt her nerves disappate at the sound of Ino's voice and the feel of her hand in her own. She nodded.

"I won't let you fall, little flower."

They stepped off the edge together.

* * *

The little valley they settled in was host to a thin little stream that burbled over smooth rocks. Without waiting for permission, Sakura tore a strip from Ino's discarded rags, ignoring her amused smile, and wetting the cloth in the water.

"What service," Ino giggled as Sakura began to clean the blood from her face. Sakura shushed her and Ino leaned back against the tall yew tree that they had taken rest under. Slowly, shining skin became clean, the entire time both of them unable to break the gaze they shared. Ino took the cloth when Sakura was satisfied and gave her teeth a quick scrub before tossing it aside. Their lips met again when Ino pulled Sakura to her lap and taught her the finer points of the kiss.

"Does it hurt?" Sakura asked quietly after what felt like eternity condensed to a single moment had passed. She saw the High Priest laying dead on the floor in a bloody mess. Ino shook her head.

"No, it doesn't have to," Ino replied, running her hand over Sakura's hair. Sakura felt much of her anxiety disappate, though...

"And I'll see you when I wake up again?"

There was a flash of some emotion across Ino's features that Sakura was unable to read and as quickly as it had come, it was gone. Ino took Sakura's face in her hands, gently stroking her cheek with her thumb.

"I swear on my life, that you will find me again. So long as you never give up looking." Sakura felt the tension in her stomach again. But all the same, she nodded.

"I'll never give up," she swore. Ino stared into her eyes and saw the determination there formed from iron and nodded. She slipped her arms around Sakura and pulled her close, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.

"I love you, little flower," Ino whispered against Sakura's skin. Sakura looped her arms around Ino's shoulders, threading her fingers into her hair.

"I love you, too."

With a kiss planted over Sakura's carotid, Ino opened her mouth and sank her teeth into the artery. Sakura gasped, tensing at the two white-hot lancets of pain before it faded away to a dull ache, her vision already blurring and going dark. Without realizing, she was on her back, the stars twinkling through the branches of the tree winking out one by one.

As sound fell away, replaced by a darkly comforting silence, she heard Ino whisper.

" _Sleep tight, little flower._ "

And the final sensation Sakura felt was the brush of Ino's lips across her own before the dark claimed her.

* * *

_Absence makes the heart grow fonder as Sakura quickly found out._

She pounded quickly down the packed Manhattan sidewalk, hands in her pockets, her stride purposeful and determined.

_She was so close now._

When she woke beneath the yew tree four hundred years earlier, Ino was long gone, having had a week to gain a lead. But on the horizon was the silver star that was Ino's presence, burning like a tower of white phosphorus.

And Sakura began walking.

It was not immediately obvious to her, but Ino was leading her; guiding her across the world. Across the mountains and desert and churning foam of the sea, Sakura found the land of peculiar things. She lived there for more years than she could recall and danced as Ino had beneath the drifting sakura petals and in the field of tall grass. Every night, watching Ino move a little more across the horizon.

Every story Ino had told and retold had been true. The open-air market under the hot sun and over blazing sand. The massive ships were far more civilized by the time Sakura found them, but were no less thrilling in the high winds of a storm. Far North, she found the land of perpetual snow and walked the icy, halcyon shores of frozen lakes and oceans.

Sakura wandered as Ino had, journeying across the crossroads at the four compass points and beyond. Ino was showing her the world as she had seen it. And as much as Sakura wished to journey it with Ino, or as much as she hoped to awaken one night and see Ino next to her, she was thankful for that.

" _Not even flowers are meant to last forever._ "

Ino's words echoed through her head every day and through the night. Every story and every poem seared into her brain like the memory of Ino's smile and the taste of her kiss. But those words stood out the most, because they were wrong.

Sakura had walked for lifetimes and saw things most only ever got to dream of with a goal that would never expire. The fiery star on the horizon had tempered her to steel. And the pressing memories of a touch, a kiss, and a love turned her heart to diamond.

Sakura had become the undying flower. All for her.

Sakura stopped outside the fancy, upscale restaurant on the corner, the outer walls more glass than stone or steel. Sakura could not see through to the second floor where Ino was sitting, but she didn't need to. The entire building glowed like a bonfire with Ino's presence. She passed through into the lobby, brushing by others waiting in line and ignoring the insistence of the hostess that she wait to be seated.

"Someone is waiting on me, reservation for two," Sakura told the bewildered woman, gesturing up at the balcony that ringed the walls and pointing at the woman with the long golden hair. The hostess flipped open her little log book to check and grudgingly let Sakura walk herself to the table when the claim checked out.

Sakura mounted the stairs, butterflies she hadn't felt in centuries awakening in her belly. Ino was sitting facing away from the stairs which allowed Sakura the luxury of surprise, though she knew Ino wouldn't be. The red strapless dress Ino wore allowed Sakura to trail her fingers over bare shoulder as she moved around to take the seat on the other side. Ino had looked up at Sakura's touch, a smile touching red painted lips that turned into a small smirk at Sakura's attire.

Though she didn't much care, Sakura had to admit that if she knew she would find Ino here of all places, she would have dressed in something nicer than denim and leather. She reached out and took Ino's hand in both of her own, lifting it to press her lips to Ino's skin.

"I've missed you," she murmurred against Ino's fingers. Ino rose from her seat to lean across the small table and deliver a kiss four-hundred years too late. She sat down and sipped at something dark red and thick in her glass, pale eyes glowing playfully.

"So, what kept you, my Sakura?"

* * *

_But I believe in love_

_and I know that you do too._

_And I believe in some kind of path_

_that we can walk down, me and you._


	6. Eagles aren't Taxis

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:** "M" for language, light drug use, sexual activity, and absolutely no plot  
**World State:**  A.U.  
**Word Count:**  3,715  
**Summary:**  Magic the Gathering, Lord of the Rings, a tickle fight, and hot, hot sex; Standard fare for nerds in love.

_Author Notes:_

_...I... I have no plot here..._

_Anxiety dictates that I specify that this is my first "plotless story" since I was a young, hormone-driven larvae. It still leaves that twisty, weird feeling in my thorax knowing that I'm likely revealing parts of my own **modus operandi**  in this...but depravity, as well as fortune, favors the bold. Bonus points if you get that reference._

_But be gentle with me... I don't mind rough treatment, but I'm **delicate**._

_...I'm sorry._

* * *

"You're shittin' me, right?" Ino asked incredulously, folding her hand of cards and dropping them amongst her dwindling side of the battlefield. Sakura quirked an eyebrow at her from across the table and a particularly nasty bounce combo.

"No, it would have made  _so much_  sense. They could have shaved, what, two movies, if not more, off the trip?" Sakura asked, likewise folding her hand and reaching for the pack of smokes in the middle of the table. Ino batted her hand away and snatched up the pack first. The big messy bun she had drawn her hair into bobbed as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Okay, well, one, there's nothing wrong with having three movies. And two, there's  _no way_  Gandalf meant for them to ride the eagles to Mount Doom," Ino said firmly, tossing Sakura the pack after she had lit up. Sakura's eyebrows knit together.

"It would have made sense, though," Sakura insisted, moving the ashtray from her side of the table to the middle. "I mean, it does seem like a pretty critical plot hole."

"Yeah," Ino conceded, "only if you never read the books or  _The Silmarillion._   _Then_  it might seem like a plot hole."

"So, enlighten me."

"The Eagles of Manwe are more than just big fucking eagles, kay? They're servants of the Valar and are not beheld to Gandalf because the Istari, despite being the Middle-Earth equivalent to angels, are basically on the same level as th-"

"Yeah, okay, okay. Too many technical names, you win," Sakura said cutting Ino off with a raised hand. Ino pulled a face and blew a lungful of smoke Sakura's direction who replied with her own.

"The point is that the eagles are their own proud people, not a taxi service for wizards. They would  _eaten_  Frodo before they would have given him a lift," Ino finished arching her eyebrows smugly. She picked her cards up again to look in the hopes they had changed to something serviceable. No such luck; just a handful of burn spells too weak to do anything to Sakura's combo. With a sigh, she tossed her hand face up and raised her hands in surrender. "You win, I give."

"Yeah, you didn't have nothin', huh?" Sakura muttered looking at the cards upside down and comparing them to her own side of the battlefield.

"Nope," Ino groused as she gathered her cards up and returned them to the deck, giving it a few quick shuffles before returning it to her little faux-leather deck box. She stood and stretched offering Sakura a glimpse of flat tummy and shapely hips as her threadbear but comfy pajama shirt rode up. Ino returned to Earth after the stretch had sent her brain into orbit and shivered. "C'mon, let's watch a movie or something."

Thus had been their routine for the past several months. After dating for about a year, they finally decided to move in together. They almost always had Saturday night off work together and, being that both were the reclusive type, it became their "lazy day." Though, on occasion, they found it in themselves to go out. Preparing for their nights out almost became a game of sorts, considering there was only one bedroom and one bathroom. Sometimes it was a race, sometimes it was to see who could scandalize the other with what they carried to their respective corners. But the end result was always worth it, both saw the other and felt they were the luckiest girl in the world.

However, most lazy days...

"Wo-w, th-that's good," Ino coughed returning the bong to the little table in front of the couch. "Who'd we buy from this time?" Sakura was a little slow to answer, completely mesmerized by a trailer for some new anime about highly-magical ninja children.

"Uh, Kabuto..."

"Oh, wow, straight from the source. Didn't have to go through that ramen-devouring madman this time, huh?" Ino chuckled. The Netflix selection was abysmal, as usual, and they spent more time looking for something to watch than actually watching anything.

"Why didn't Sheriff Bart just leave Rock Ridge and go some place else? Like, they'd probably be okay with him in, like, New York or something," Sakura asked part-way through Blazing Saddles.

"'Cause then there wouldn't have been a movie," Ino said, her lips right near Sakura's ear due to their snuggled and tangled position on the couch. They were laying together, Ino on the inside, propped up on one elbow, and Sakura in front of her, their legs tangled together. Both of them praised whoever had come up with the idea of short-shorts. Sakura swatted at the unintentional tickle of Ino's breath, nearly bopping Ino on the nose.

"Quit it," Sakura huffed. Ino grinned.

" _Whhhy_?" she practically sang. "Not  _ticklish_ , are we, forehead?" She asked, brushing her fingers lightly across Sakura's neck. Sakura flinched and craned her head around to glare.

"We're about to fight, pig, and you have no escape route," Sakura threatened. Ino cocked an eyebrow.

"But  _I_  know your weakspot," Ino's hand shot down and attacked the soft skin of Sakura's inner thigh. Sakura's following yelp and jump left her on the floor and Ino snorting with laughter. "Attack the weak point for  _ **massive damage**_!" she called out like a an over-zealous fight promoter.

"Oh, now it's on," Sakura growled, rising up and launching herself at Ino's ribs. As ticklish as Sakura may have been, Ino was worse. In seconds she was a shrieking, choking, laughing mess, helpless to stave off Sakura's attack.

"I'm- gon-na- kill- you!" Ino gasped between screams, her slaps to Sakura's arms completely ineffectual.

"Oh yeah, really looks like it," Sakura countered, jumping back on the couch to straddle Ino's hips, pinning her in place. Sakura's fingers found every tender spot she could think of; ribs, armpit, stomach, neck. Ino bucked her hips wildly in an attempt to dislodge her attacker, but to no avail.

"Gon-na-  _die!_ " Ino laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Sakura stared down at her girlfriend, unable to keep a smile off her face even while maintaining such a ferocious assault. She knew everyone felt that way about their significant other, but Ino's laugh was by far one of her favorite things. And as much as she would have liked to keep hearing it in that moment, she knew it was time to stop. Their last tickle fight had left Ino needing clean pants and the strong will to not speak to Sakura for two whole days followed by a week of passive-aggressive comments.

So, instead...

Sakura seized Ino's wrists and pinned them against the arm of the couch. Ino's laughter died down to tiny hiccupping gasps.

"You suck," she panted.

"Only when you pay me enough," Sakura grinned, leaning down so that they were nose to nose. Both of them had forgone wearing bras on their lazy day off and a quiet thrill passed through them as their breasts pushed together. Ino giggled and brushed her nose back and forth across Sakura's.

"What? You some kind of perverted Yojimbo?"

"Something like that. Lucky for you, I'm cheap," Sakura teased, pressing a ghost of a kiss to Ino's lips before pulling out of reach. Ino tried to follow her for another kiss, but was halted by the pressure on her wrists.

"Aw, don't be mean to me," Ino pouted, trying with no real effort to free her hands. Sakura shifted so that she had Ino pinned with one hand. She dragged a fingernail slowly over Ino's collar bone. Ino shivered.

"You know you love it," Sakura said quietly. She couldn't help herself; Ino laying trapped beneath her, chest heaving, staring up with those beautiful blues. Sakura wrapped her fingers around Ino's delicate neck and squeezed gently. Ino had to bite down on her lower lip to keep a moan from slipping out and ruining the game too soon. She shook her head, crocodile tears welling up almost on cue.

"No, you always tease me and you're  _so mean_  and I'm never anything but a giving lover," She whimpered breathily and began rolling her hips up against Sakura's to make her point. Sakura quietly relished the heat pooling low in her belly as Ino writhed beneath her. She pulled her hand away from Ino's throat and sat up, but kept one hand firmly on her wrists.

"So, what you're telling me is that you wanna cut out foreplay altogether?" Sakura cocked her head in the question, tapping a finger thoughtfully against her chin. "Certainly would save some time so I could beat your ass at Magic some more." Ino's eyes dried up immediately.

"Never," she murmured huskily. Sakura finally released Ino's hands and leaned down again. Ino snaked her arms around Sakura's waist, slipping up the back of her shirt. Sakura shifted and pressed her thigh between Ino's legs. Ino hooked one leg up around Sakura's hips, pulling her in tightly.

"Then shut the fuck up," she whispered against Ino's lips. Any reply Ino may have had was swallowed by the ferocity of the kiss. Tongues fought for supremacy before Sakura quickly won the battle, hand once more returning to Ino's neck. It had been an accidental discovery one day during some playful rough-housing when a joking chokehold left Ino weak in the knees and in need of immediate physical attention. As it was, it became Sakura's ace in the hole that left her in control of a needy submissive; something she enjoyed immensely.

"You don't play fair," Ino whimpered when Sakura directed her head to the side and attacked her earlobe with tongue and teeth. Sakura ran her hand up under Ino's shirt and squeezed her breast roughly. Ino arched against the contact, already quivering as her nipple went hard between Sakura's fingers.

"All is fair in love and war and this is definitely one if not both," Sakura murmurred, pulling Ino's shirt up. A trail of wet kisses led Sakura to the creamy expanse of Ino's chest, lips and tongue treating one nipple as her fingers punished the other. Ino squirmed under the duality of pleasure and pain, fingers buried in Sakura's hair as quiet gasps failed to fully carry the moan past her lips. That changed when Sakura slipped her hand down.

"My my, soaked already," Sakura purred in Ino's ear, fingers teasing at the blonde's hot cunt. Ino buried her face in the crook of Sakura's neck and sucked at her jugular.

"What can I say? You know which buttons to push," Ino breathed, dragging her nails down Sakura's back before taking handful of ass and pushing Sakura's crotch down against her thigh. Sakura groaned quietly and extracted her hand, licking at her glistening fingers.

"You're just asking for it now," Sakura accused, tracing a fingertip across Ino's lips, leering as Ino opened her mouth to let her tongue meet Sakura's fingers. Sakura ground her hips against Ino's and both of them lost track of everything else for a beat. "C'mon." Sakura extracted her self from their tangle and stood, pulling Ino up by the waistband of her shorts. The short trip down the hall was made only more cumbersome as Ino kept herself practically glued to Sakura's back.

"Mm, how long has it been?" Ino muttered, letting her hands roam worshipfully across Sakura's front. Sakura tilted her head, a lazy grin spreading across her face as Ino lined small kisses up and down her neck.

"Three days? That little quicky in the shower?"

"Too long then," Ino huffed.

They made it into the bedroom and Sakura turned to shove Ino up against the wall.

"Now- I know- more than one way- to skin a cat," Sakura said between kisses. She drew back and in quick succession relieved Ino of her shirt, shorts and panties. "But I have no patience for any of them but 'fast and brutal,'" she grinned, practically throwing Ino to the bed. Ino sprawled across the matress, skin flush and looking  _oh so_   _delicious_. Ino leaned up on her elbows, eyes half-lidded and dark with lust.

"Oh, be gentle with me," she begged. She trailed her fingers down between her breasts, across her stomach, and pressed her hand between her legs as Sakura stripped. "You know how I fold under such rough treatment, I'm  _delicate_." Sakura snorted, crawling up from the foot of the bed, leaving kisses and licks up the full length of Ino's body until she reached her mouth. She pressed down on Ino fully, loving the feel of their breasts smushed together and the feel of wet heat on each others thighs.

" _Please_ , let's not pretend you don't love being wrapped around my finger." Sakura ran her hand down Ino's belly and hovered teasingly over her mons.

" _Fingers_ ," Ino corrected, arching her hips up to meet Sakura's hand. She moaned when Sakura slipped her middle finger into her slick folds.

"So, more than just this one?" Sakura asked, pressing in fully and teasing around her g-spot. Ino opened her mouth in a silent moan, nodding as her eyes rolled.

"Yes! Please,  _yes_!"

"Only because you asked  _so_  nicely," Sakura drawled, sliding her ring finger in as well. Ino gasped, hips bucking against Sakura's crooking fingers.

"Oh, god, yes!" Ino cried.

"'Sakura' will suffice," Sakura smirked. She settled into a firm and steady pulse that she knew would have Ino ready to explode in minutes. Quiet little "Oh's" escaped Ino with each thrust of Sakura's fingers. Her eyes fluttered shut and her head fell back as she squirmed beneath Sakura's ministrations. "Ah, ah!" Sakura warned, griping Ino's chin and turning her head back down. "Eye contact, pig. I wanna see the adoration in your eyes." Ino's pink flush deepened.

"You're such a pervert," she whispered with a grin, "but that's why I keep y-  _Oh!_ " she cut off as Sakura ground her palm into her clit. The pressure in her groin swelled as Sakura sped up, but she did as she was told and kept her eyes locked on Sakura's; she was almost afraid of the spontaneous combustion that could have occurred between their gazes.

_Closer..._

_So close..._

" _Why_?!" Ino felt like crying, inches from getting off, when Sakura pulled away. "I was almost there," Ino whined. Sakura brought her dripping fingers up to her lips and gave them a lick, eyes radiating pure evil before she seized Ino once more by the throat.

"Open," Sakura commanded. "Tongue out."

Ino complied, her breath warm against Sakura's fingers as they skated across her lips and tongue, spreading her own arousal around her mouth. Ino closed around Sakura's fingers, suckling slowly, a flare smoldering deep in her eyes as she stared into embered green. A good decision if the look on Sakura's face was anything to go by.

"Dirty girl," Sakura muttered appreciatively. Ino took Sakura's hand in her own and slowly pulled her fingers from her mouth with a wet little  _pop_. She pressed a kiss into Sakura's palm.

"It's why you keep me around, right?" she asked, her voice dripping honey and lust as she cuddled her cheek into Sakura's hand. Sakura smiled; a genuine thing, not one hiding perverse intent. She turned loose of Ino's neck and cupped her face in both hands.

"Among other reasons," Sakura answered lightly and kissed the tip of Ino's nose. "Do you wanna marry me so we can turn into old, gray lesbians together?" The question had surprised her, out before she could even really stop it.

"This is really weird foreplay, Sakura."

"Shush." Sakura lightly patted Ino's cheek in the mockery of a slap. "Do you wanna?" Ino smiled and ran her fingers up through Sakura's hair.

"Babe," she began, leaning up to kiss Sakura softly, "I will do whatever you want on the condition that you get back to fucking me, _right now._ "

"That's fair," Sakura laughed. "But it's my turn right now. I need to test your claim of being a 'giving lover.'" With one last kiss, she slid slowly up the length of Ino's body and situated her knees on either side of Ino's head.

"Your turn?" Ino cried incredulously. "I didn't even get t-"

"Shush," Sakura repeated with a mischievous grin, pressing down and silencing Ino with hot, wet flesh. "I promise that when I'm done with you, you'll be missing childhood memories." Despite her protests, Ino immediately went to work. She slipped her arms around Sakura's thighs and seized her hips, her tongue laving deeply.

"Another reason I wanna marry you," Sakura sighed as she stroked Ino's hair and groped her own breasts. "You're such a cunning linguist I'm tempted to lock your tongue up with the rest of the silver." Ino pulled off of Sakura's clit with a hard suck that made Sakura twitch, her lips glistening.

"You're corny."

"And horny. Back to work, glorious reward awaits you!" Sakura did not miss the roll of Ino's eyes.

It didn't take long for Ino to bring Sakura to the edge, her tongue setting a hard circular pattern on the pinkette's clit. It took a near-impossible force of will, but Sakura pulled herself away from Ino's talented mouth.

"What's wrong?" Ino panted. Sakura shifted back down, pressing herself fully up against her girlfriend. She playfully licked at Ino's lips.

"I just wanna finish with you," Sakura purred, lifting Ino's leg up around her hip and pressing their groins together.

" _Oh_ , I'm fine with that," Ino moaned.

And together, in a slow and sensual grind, they burned.

"God, I love you," Ino breathed in Sakura's ear. Sakura giggled and kissed Ino's cheek even as she bore down hard with her hips.

"So you do wanna get married?" Sakura asked. Ino couldn't help but chuckle at the over-eager grin on Sakura's face. She pulled her in for another kiss.

"Again, weird fucking foreplay, sweetheart. But yeah, sure," she panted through a moan drawn by a particularly talented twist of hips. The glitter in Sakura's eyes would have been enough to make to make Ino's heart flutter if it wasn't already pounding full-throttle.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, this Winter, with all that pretty snow on the ground. Let's do it," Ino confirmed with a lazy smile. For a moment, all was forgotten as they locked lips and simply held each other tightly. Sakura broke away and sat up, gripping Ino's hips tightly.

"Hell yeah! One world-rocking orgasm, coming right up!"

Ino had wanted to say more. That she had been wondering if the time was coming that the topic would breach. Sure, they had only been together for a couple years, but they had known each other for longer and everything clicked between them so well.

Ino had wanted to say more, but the fire Sakura was attempting to start between their legs left her incapable of coherency. The coiling pressure built as they rocked together.

"Oh,  _fuck_ , Ino!" Sakura hissed between clenched teeth. She could feel it; the final shining point of bliss burning like a solar flare ready erupt and ruin her.

"Sakura, please!  _Please_!" Ino whispered, frantically patting her own throat in a silent request.

_There...Almost..._

_Now!_

Sakura wrapped her hand around Ino's neck, pushing down on the arteries in her neck. She leaned down, just strokes away, and moaned in Ino's ear, "Come for me."

Ino's sight went dark around the edges as the spine-bending, toe-curling orgasm claimed her. A quivering wail escaped her and pushed Sakura over the edge who did not relinquish the grind, riding it out to its fullest even as every muscle in her seized with pleasure. When Sakura released the choke, the rush of blood to Ino's head blacked her out for a split-second before her tremoring release pulled her right back out.

Sakura collapsed on her side next to Ino, panting and shivering in the aftershock. She pulled Ino in close and held her tightly as they caught their breath in a sweat-slicked daze.

"Oh, my god," Ino whispered raggedly into the crook of Sakura's neck, sliding her arms around her waist, "Oh, my god,  _Sakura."_

"I accept virgins thrown into volcanos and tributes of fresh fruit," Sakura chuckled. Ino had no reply other than to lightly swat her on the ass. They laid there quietly, simply enjoying the skin-on-skin contact with the other in the silence of their bed. Ino emerged from her stupor and cupped Sakura's cheek, leaning in to peck her gently on the lips.

"Love you," she breathed. Sakura put her forehead up against Ino's and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"Love you," she returned. She pulled away slightly and stretched contentedly, falling onto her back. "Wanna go get married?" she asked the ceiling. Ino grinned and kissed her cheek.

"I was beginning to think you'd never ask, but let's go get some food first. I'm starving."


	7. They Know

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:**  "K+" for suggestive descriptions.  
**World State:**  Normal  
**Word Count:**  1,361  
**Summary:**  They didn't always know, but they learned.

* * *

"Love you, pig."

"Love you, forehead."

They've known each other for years, said the words a thousand times, and still they can only thrill at the sound of each others voice.

* * *

They were seven when they knew compassion and understanding. When the gift of a ribbon came with more than just encouraging words. Where kind reassurances reached out to insecurities and cajoled them into standing tall and proud. A wilting cherry blossom learned from the adamant bush clover to love herself as she was.

They were twelve when they knew competition and fear. A declaration of love and loyalty pledged in the wrong direction. It became a race and to the victor would go the spoils of love. But there was love lost between them, a bond forged in a field of flowers. Only temporarily shattered, though neither could have known.

They were fourteen when they first danced together. The twist of the body to avoid sharpened steel, the scrape of teeth across knuckles, fists sunk into tender places that steal away ones breath. It is in the dance they learn each others mind, of the monstrous strength held away by will alone and tender secrets hidden in deep, dark corners.

They were fourteen when they smothered the fire on a burning bridge. They met in the middle, once more friends; fully happy to push and temper each other to new heights.

They were sixteen when they learned of war and pain. They know the taste of blood. They've cut their teeth on the skin and bone of their fellow man and they know the measure of a life. They know the sharp, bone-deep wrench of watching a comrade die. They know the sound of a death rattle. Neither of them wish to remember.

They were sixteen when all knew of peace. They wiped the blood and smoke from each others eyes and reveled in the joyous tears found there because the other was alive. They had spread themselves so thin in their efforts to protect all they loved and more that it was only natural they help pull the other back into one piece.

They were seventeen when they knew hope and hesitation. A clumsily-made bouquet pressed into the hands of a master of the art and a question both had wanted to voice tumbling hastily from a lip worried by teeth. The bouquet was discarded for a time in the excitement but later retrieved to sit as a centerpiece on a bedside table. Hope was found in tangled fingers that left butterflies in stomachs and smoldering embers in hearts as they shared a night beneath a full and beautiful moon.

They were seventeen when they learned to dance all over again. Soft words pressed between hard kisses with sharp nails dug into silken skin. They knew the torque of each others hips. They knew how to crook their fingers and leave the other squirming and helpless. They knew the taste of skin and sweat and heady perfume and hot breath. They knew to keep the other close afterward, lest the blankets be hogged in the night.

They were twenty-one when they learned of commitment. Vows spoken softly and rings that changed fingers in a small ceremony only for them and those they held dearest. Their teammates congratulated them and celebrated their union. They both rolled their eyes when the Nanadaime burst into big, stupid, joyful tears. They deliberately left the gift from the Rokudaime unwrapped and hidden in the back of their closet for fear of what they might find.

They were twenty-seven when they learned of honor and dedication. The bush clover leads her clan as a mighty matriarch, but one without progeny to carry the bloodline. Their argument rattled the walls of the compound. To the end of their days, it remained a tender point of contention that a man briefly inhabited their bed, but they cherished and loved the daughter the unfortunate convergence had produced.

They were fifty-three when they learned the importance of time. Quiet walks together in the gardens, surrounded by hundreds blooming flowers, reminiscence of their younger days a favored topic. They watched their daughter bloom into a strong woman, ready to one day lead the clan. They wondered of the future with trepidation, unwilling to imagine the unthinkable as they tightly clasped one another in slowly weakening arms.

She was sixty-one when she learned of grief and what it means for a heart to break. She stood at the side of the coffin, unwilling to let go of a once warm hand turned to so much cold skin and bone. The wildflowers that lined the inside of her coffin were only a sad reminder that not even flowers could last forever, no matter the strength or beauty the possessed. She wept openly as the casket vanished into the ground. It wasn't until her first moment alone that she fell apart.

She was sixty-two when she laid in their bed for the last time. She couldn't bring herself to stand even if she wanted to. The daughter that was and was not her own stayed at her side, holding her hand and swearing that she would be buried at the side of her departed love.

She was sixty-two when she breathed her last, waiting to see her again.

* * *

They would have been one-hundred-and-one.

The tiny graveyard in the corner of the village was often avoided but highly revered. It was the final resting place for the heroes of the last great shinobi war. Some believed that if one were to linger long enough among the proud, weathered headstones that whispers of the long departed could be heard. Tales of bravery and love and howling, fiery youth uttered quietly on a wind that wasn't there.

Two of the headstones in particular seemed more active than the others. Though no flowers grew there, the bitter-sweet scent of cherry blossoms mingled with the almost invisible aura of bush clover. The sounds of carefree laughter could often be heard late in the night beneath the light of full moons.

The clan of the bush clover loved to tell the stories of their greatest leader. Stories of her bravery in the war and the unyielding love she had for cherry blossoms.

* * *

Sakura perched on top of her headstone, gazing fondly up at the moon as she waited for Ino to wake. Before she knew it, she felt it; a swirling and bubbly prescence at her side that made her smile.

"I love you, pig," she murmurred, her voice little more than an errant breeze as she kissed Ino's cheek. Ephemeral fingers tangled as they always had in life as Ino returned the affection.

"I love you, forehead."

.

.

.

* * *

_Extended Author Notes:_

_Greetings all! I know I don't really do much in these author notes, but that was really because I didn't have much to do with them. I post the stories, you read and hopefully enjoy them and that's how it goes._

_But now it's different! So...there's that._

_First, I'm currently rewriting "Wired for Destruction." While I do like it, I know it can be better, so that's that._

_Concerning **Daydreaming of Darkness** , the first part is still being written, but it's gonna be a while so I apologize if you were looking forward to that. But rest assured, that it is on the way!_

_But with all that said, I am AntaresNull, your humble author, and I bid you farewell!_


	8. Wired for Destruction

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:**  "T" for the non-graphic mention of sex, violence  
**World State:**  Normal  
**Summary:**  It had begun, simply enough, with a kiss.  
**Word Count:**  1,025  
**Credits:**  Lyrics at the top belong to Ludovico Technique and come from their song, "Wired for Destruction" 

* * *

_**Once I knew all that I wanted, a simple clarity** _

_**May I live to find the feeling of lost serenity** _

* * *

"I hate you, Yamanaka," Sakura moans, tracing warm lines of hatred along Ino's neck with her tongue.

Ino pauses briefly to consider the irony of the statement before returning to the task of getting Sakura's bra off. A disused supply closet in the Konoha hospital; Ino, pinned to the wall by Sakura's freakish strength, her skirt steadily slipping up her thighs as Sakura leaves white-hot bite marks on her shoulder. Ino worms her fingers into Sakura's hair and pulls her away only to crash their mouths together, each tasting exaltant jubilation and desperate need.

* * *

It had begun, simply enough, the same way; with a kiss. Or the promise of one.

"No other lips but Sasuke's will touch mine!" Ino had declared one day to the Konoha Twelve. They had still been children then and the statement had seemed far too close to achieveable for Sakura's liking. Amidst the chatter and laughing of her classmates, Sakura fumed and swore to herself that she would get there first. Swore that none would steal Sasuke from her.

* * *

Sakura woke on the bench the day after Sasuke had left, feeling much of the glamor fall away. But still, she vowed that she would save him. That she could persuade him, change him, and make him come back. But she had to be ready; and training was the tried-and-true method.

* * *

Despite Ino's claim, she knew she wouldn't be able to go to Sasuke as imperfect. She truly meant that no other boy would touch her lips...but a girl...

When Sakura came to Ino, fuming, angry, and embarassed to ask if they should practice, Ino could hardly believe her luck in that she wouldn't have to ask first, let alone that it was happening at all.

Sakura's reasoning behind going to her dearest enemy was the hope that Ino could keep a secret, particularly one pertaining to their mutual crush. Ino agreed and they met later at her house for the first sleepover they'd had in years.

"Better get ready to have your socks knocked off, Billboard Brow. I'm gonna be the better kisser for Sasuke!"

"Psh, sure, if he isn't totally disgusted by your Pig lips."

Both sniped at one another, both nervous down to their very core.

But it was for Sasuke. Had been for Sasuke.

For the duration of their abrupt session, in the smear of pink lipglosses and warm breath, quickly ended out of sheer nerves before turning in for the night, Ino could only think of one thing.

That not even her imagined kisses with Sasuke had been this good.

She dreamt of Sakura blossoms and strawberries and warm summer days.

* * *

Pain...

Everywhere, pain.

The assault was over, but Pain had left his mark.

Ino could still hear the cries of the wounded and the dying. Sakura sent her away when she broke down over a hurt boy crying for his mother. He had been trapped under a collapsed portion of roof, half of his body mangled and beyond saving.

She had found a crumbled little structure some distance from the emergency medical tents set up in the crater. Ino stubbed her first ever cigarette, half-finished, out on the ground; unsure why she had even bummed one or who it had come from. She couldn't understand why Asuma-sensei or Shikamaru enjoyed the feeling of scorched lungs and throat. But she had been willing to try anything to take the edge off.

After enough time, she became aware that she wasn't alone anymore. She wasn't sure how long Sakura had been sitting there next to her, but she understood the look in Sakura's eye.

Neither of them spoke as Ino wept into Sakura's shoulder.

Neither batted an eye when their lips met, neither sure who had initiated the kiss.

And afterward, neither spoke of the raw, animal, emotional release of fucking on the ashes and earth of their ruined home surrounded by death and pain.

* * *

And in the blink of an eye that felt like it took years to close, the war was over.

And once more, Sasuke was gone. Sakura had watched him go after declining her offer to join him. Something inside of her had clicked then and the infatuation she had felt for him through all her young life slipped away. But he was safe, and happy, and she could live with that.

* * *

Together at the newly rebuilt hospital, they worked nearly around the clock alongside the rest of the medical-nin staff, treating the long-lasting and lingering injuries of the war.

And over time, life became worth living again.

* * *

Sakura and Ino fell into their old pre-rivalry ways like it was nothing. Sasuke was no longer there and no longer a reason to fight.

They found reasons to linger around one another. Whether Ino needed assistance with a patient or Sakura wanted to know if that eyeshadow went with this dress. Girls' night out became a regular occurance; the both of them teaming up with Tenten, Temari, and Hinata to paint the town red. Dance floors became a less of a reason to scope out dates when they found more reason to keep to their table in the corner.

* * *

The storage closet in the hospital was where it became official.

Sakura tried to deny it, though Ino had embraced and hoped for it long ago.

No matter how she tried, Sakura couldn't be away from Ino's laughter, from her sharp wit, from her hypnotic cerulean eyes. Sakura practically dragged Ino from the cafeteria on their break and led her to the disused supply closet.

"I will never be with Sasuke now," Sakura told a bewildered Ino pinned to the wall and silenced with a kiss of fire.

"I hate you, Yamanaka. You stole me from Sasuke."

"Exactly as planned, forehead," Ino replied, twisting her legs around Sakura's waist and riding her to the floor.


	9. To Breathe Again

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating:** "T" for language, suicidal actions/thoughts  
**World State:**  Normal  
**Word Count:**  3,003  
**Summary:**  The kunai leaves a glistening ruby on her wrist, tears cloud her sight and she whispers, "You said you loved me."  
**Credits:**  Chapter title is a reference to the Disturbed song, "Darkness." Lyrics at the top belong to L'ame Immortelle and come from their song, "Leaving." 

* * *

_Unfold your heart and let me see_  
_the pain you bear because of me._  
_I'm innocent but broke your heart.  
_ _Destroyed your dreams, ripped them apart._

* * *

The sky has fallen in.

It was the only thing that made sense. The already gray and blustery day had turned dark hours ahead of schedule and unleashed a torrent of rain and thunder. Ino watched the window of her bedroom get lashed by the wind and wondered what it would be like if the glass shattered and the shards found their way to her vitals. She didn't think but simply felt that that would have been nice.

She clutched her pillow tighter to her chest, the edge of the soft linen case soaked with tears. Her breath came in choking gasps, lungs and throat aching after hours of sobbing.

Her eyes hurt, her head hurt.

Everything hurt.

The sky had fallen and she was already dead.

* * *

If the Yamanaka clan could pride themselves on a single quality then it was that their minds were fortresses. They had to be when it was their job send their mind to new and often dangerous places. In part of the Yamanaka teachings she had been taught when she was little, Ino learned how to meditate; to block out all else and focus her mind with laser precision.

Little Ino had often taken the saying literally and imagined a castle inside her own head. It had eventually become a useful tool. When trying to recall a piece of information, all she had to do was walk the halls of her fortress; imagining the stacks of scrolls and books and browse through them. It was not perfect and she could not always recall  _exactly_  what she wished, but it worked more often than not.

It was surprising then to find  _her_  taking up space in Ino's tidy mental fastness one day.

* * *

Ino was fourteen when she began to wonder and sixteen when she was sure.

"I'm gay."

There had been nothing else to say at that point. The small talk was over, the friendly cup of tea poured and sipped at.

"So, I guess that means I'll actually have Sasuke to myself, huh, pig?" Sakura asked after a moment. Ino ignored the tightening in her chest.

"Yeah, the Uchiha brat is all yours, forehead," Ino replied, drowning her mounting and unprovoked anxieties with the rest of her tea. She had no claim on Sakura. It was ignorant, and evil, to even entertain the thought. Regardless, she had no interest in Billboard Brow just as she was sure Sakura wasn't gay. She and Sakura were friends. Period. So, why...?

"Unless this is some tricky pig plot so you could declare your love for me," Sakura snarked. Ino choked on her tea.

"Puh _-lease_ , forehead. Not even in your wildest dreams," Ino scoffed, the lie catching on her teeth before it could betray her.

* * *

Ino's mind is a disquiet place. It had been for years now.

The little daylight left in the sky eroded away as the storm raged. Ino wanted a flood. She wanted the rivers across the Land of Fire to break their banks. She wanted the waters to rise up to her third-floor apartment window and drown her on her sad little mattress. Thunder tore the sky apart and she wondered if being struck by lightning hurt.

Sakura was dancing on the ruins of her fortress, tearing the walls down and shattering the peace. She was laughing and kicking at disorganized memories, scattering loose pages Ino was sure she didn't want back anyway.

How did she even get in there?

_Why_  was she there?

* * *

"How" was far easier to answer, and far less painful; The Rinne Festival, three years ago.

The streets had been swept of snow and lights glittered in and around every window. Gifts and cheer and alcohol flowed freely. Food carts stood on every corner offering roasted nuts and sweets of all shapes and sizes.

And Sasuke had returned.

"Returned," in this instance, to mean he sought out Naruto in the Hokage's office and departed again immediately afterward. Sakura was only made aware of his visit after he had gone.

Ino had already been out tippling with Shikamaru and Choji. Kiba had discovered some foul concoction in a dive bar on the outskirts of the city. Though the bright, acid-green liqour looked inviting it was stomach-churningly bitter; until sugar was added to the mix, at least.

"Now, you guys," Ino said, only lightly slurring as they left Kiba to his toxic beverage, "You guys gotta be my wingmen sometime. I need a date, suuuper bad." Shikamaru and Choji shared a look behind her back and rolled their eyes. It was not the first time Ino had required this of them and was likely not the last. "I mean, it's not- It's a hunting thing. It's not like I'm gonna get some cutie to just run in-" she cut off with a shriek as the human-equivalent of a charging bull rounded the corner and nearly plastered the group to the wall.

"Was that Sakura?" Shikamaru asked, holding up his hand to fend off the vortex of snow kicked up by the medic-nin's passing. Ino didn't bother brushing the snow from her hair as she dipped back into the dive bar, insisting that she would regroup with Shikamaru and Choji later. Shikamaru rolled his eyes again at her retreating form.

" _Troublesome_."

* * *

Sakura had wept and cursed long before she had even started feeling the alcohol. Ino was off far worse. Her head swam with her second visit to the bar and another visit with Kiba. She watched Sakura from across the table, unable to keep herself from thinking how pretty Billboard Brow actually was even when she had tears clinging to her eyelashes and face flushed with emotion and alcohol. It struck her how familiar this scene was. Sakura, harmed by a simple action rather than words this time, crying her eyes out as Ino tried to put the pieces back together.

Ino couldn't recall when they left the bar. She did not remember stumbling with Sakura back to her home. She did not remember a confusing press of lips, inquisitive hands, or asking Sakura if it was just because she was drunk.

Sakura woke the next day before she did and offered coffee and toast before hesitantly asking her out. "For a real date," she had quantified.

* * *

_It's right there_ , Ino told herself.  _Just on the other side of the room. You just have to get up and get it._

Her kunai pouch rested atop her dresser, nondescript and nonthreatening, promised serenity contained within.

_You can't do it, can you? It's easier than laying here until you starve, you won't have to hurt anymore._

Fresh tears blurred her vision and she stayed on the bed.

_You're pathetic._

* * *

"Forever and ever, forehead?"

Ino almost felt silly asking, but if you can't be silly with the one you love, then who? Sakura smiled and threaded her fingers with Ino's.

"Forever and ever, pig," she confirmed and kissed Ino sweetly. Ino grinned.

"What would I do without you?" she asked.

"Crash and burn, probably," Sakura snarked before dodging a tickle aimed at her ribs.

Who would have ever guessed that forever and ever was only about three years worth of time. Looking back, it was painfully obvious.

* * *

Ino watched from her place by the door as her world slowly shrank and became barren. Sakura bustled efficiently around their little apartment, her bags almost fully packed now. Ino didn't not fail to note that Sakura refused to look at her. This was the edge of the knife people always talked about. Where a single word or action would result in doom.

"I don't understand," Ino said quietly, feeling her heart sink to her stomach. Sakura still did not look up from craming a final few articles of clothing into one bag. Ino took a hesitant step forward and laid a hand gently on Sakura's shoulder.

_The knife was in hand._

"I- I just need some time, Ino," Sakura muttered, moving away to check something else. At the utterance of her own name, Ino felt it like a blow to the gut. It was never "Ino," it was always "pig." Her mind whirled, the walls of her fortress crumbling.

_The knife was raised._

"There isn't enough time on all of these missions you've been taking lately?" Ino queried with a frown. "I almost feel like I'm living with a strange for how long you're gone anymore." Sakura finally turned to her, though it was not the Billboard Brow she knew. Her face was impassive, her normally bright and jovial eyes were guarded.

_The knife was between her ribs._

"Do you want a hug?" Sakura asked, voice flat behind a thin mask of caring as she ignored Ino's questions. Ino nodded dumbly. Why wouldn't she ever want one? It was a brief, almost clinical thing that Ino realized hurt far worse than turning it down.

_The knife was in her heart._

"Why do you have to go?" Ino whimpered, afraid to raise her voice any higher for fear of exposing the tremble there. Sakura pulled out of the hug fast enough that it hurt and began gathering up her bags.

"We rushed it, Ino. Just, please, give me some time?"

_The knife twisted_.

Sakura moved for the door, brushing past Ino like she wasn't there. On impulse, Ino reached out and snagged Sakura's hand one last time, leaning in to press a final kiss to Sakura's cheek.

"You be good," Ino whispered, only realizing later what it actually sounded like and hating herself for it.

Sakura did not reply, did not look back as she pulled the door shut behind her.

* * *

There was no crash. There was no burn.

No, it was something far more insidious, Ino realized as she listened to the wind howl outside.

It was a rot. Slow and creeping and unstoppable. It paralyzed her and left her struggling to breathe. It hadn't been noticeable at first, but laying there in her misery, Ino could see that it had been there for longer than she was proud to admit. As much as she wanted to pin its appearance on Sakura's departure, she knew better.

She had let Sakura in.

And the rot followed.

* * *

It was only a few days later that Ino felt her world go from small and barren to completely shattered.

She watched Sakura walk with the man, laughing as she stood on tip-toe to kiss him. He bore no hitai-ate, no familial crest. A civilian. One of the faceless masses that the ninja forces worked so hard to protect. Nothing stood out about him, not even as his eyes widened and jaw dropped at the sight of a blonde kunoichi slapping his date across the face.

Sakura turned with the blow, and kept her eyes away. Ino was only incensed further when Sakura failed to look at her. Ignoring the man and his attempts at peace, she slapped Sakura again in the same place; her pinkened cheek going rose red.

" _How long?_ " Ino hissed, unshed tears threatening to spill over. The small crowd one could find hanging around any stretch of street at any time of the day muttered to themselves in hushed whispers. A few fingers pointed; some laughed, others shook their head, some simply watched. " _HOW LONG?_ " Ino screamed, seizing Sakura by the collar when she still refused to look up.

_How long for what?_  How long had Sakura been seeing him? How long had Sakura lied? How long was she going to have to wait for her to come back so they could forget it had ever happened? The sigh Sakura forced out spoke volumes to Ino.

_How long are you going to hold on to this? Why can't you just let it go? You're forcing this out of me when it would be easier to just back off and go your way._

"It's been a few months, I thi-" Sakura began, cut off by a third ringing slap. Ino didn't care for the tears flowing down her cheeks. She didn't care that she was the center of a spectacle.

"You said you loved me, Sakura," Ino said, her voice even only through sheer iron will. Sakura's sigh this time was one of having to deal with a child that would ask a question and not wait for an answer before asking again.

"I do love you, Ino." Sakura took Ino's hands and forced her grip from her collar. "But I'm not in love with you," she said firmly, eyes going hard. "We made a mistake and we have to move past it."

Ino had not realized it was possible for the human body to go numb and remain standing. Her mouth agape, a strangled laugh passed her lips. She turned to Sakura's date who had been trying to fade into the background and held up three fingers.

"Three years," Ino chuckled, swiping at her tears with the back of her hand. "Three years is a mistake." She turned and strode away, a slab of cold iron falling over the lump in her throat.

* * *

Ino woke the next morning to find the storm broken and the sky clear.

Sleep had been just as exhausting as not sleeping, her dreams replaying the memories she no longer wanted. She half-expected to turn over and find Sakura hogging the blankets, but she kept herself from looking. Mercifully, the numbness that had overcome her yesterday had returned. But regardless of how the heart and mind felt, nature dictated that normally bodily functions continue.

Ino didn't want to, but she rolled out of bed for the first time in sixteen hours. It was better than the alternative of laying in her own piss. She stopped long enough to gulp down some water and shave a bit off of a soldier pill, knowing she wouldn't have the stomach for actual food.

She stared into the bathroom mirror. The woman that looked back at her had aged ten years in a day as she pinched the dark bags under her eyes and stared at her unmakeuped visage.

_Look at you. The mighty Yamanaka Ino undone by a girl who didn't even have to lift a finger to do it._

The kunai pouch continued to mock her cowardice.

Ino was no coward. The kunai slipped from the pouch, scraping against its brethren like the grit of steel teeth. The tip of the dagger pressed easily into the tender skin of her wrist, a small ruby of blood welling immediately from the pinhole wound. Her medical training kicked in.

_Just deep enough to open the radial artery, but not deep enough to disable the nerves. Have to be able to get the other arm. Two minutes, tops, and you're gone._

_...It's the easiest way._

Tears fell before she realized she was crying again. Shame and heartbreak overwhelmed her, putting her on the floor, back to the wall as she tried to cradle herself. The kunai handle gleamed from the wall, buried there when she flung it away; a macabre ornament.

The easy way is not her way.

Yamanaka Ino is no coward.

* * *

It took several days, but Ino finally emerged from the dark hole her apartment had become. Shikamaru and Choji had been over in that time, but neither had been much of a help other than to pledge aid for when she needed it. Neither commented on the kunai in the wall.

She found them at Ichiraku like nothing had changed; Choji downing his fourth bowl and Shikamaru playing shogi against himself. She sat wordlessly and took one of their hands in each of her own and projected what she knew to them, unable to trust her own voice.

Choji wept for her. Shikamaru gripped her hand tightly, his eyes saying more than he could have out loud.

But both understood.

Ino would be fine.

* * *

Ino would have been a liar to say that things weren't different now.

It took far too long, but she still laughed. She still shamelessly bought clothing even if it stretched her funds. The flower shop remained her go to spot in her downtime. Slowly, her peace of mind returned and in her meditations she rebuilt her once perfect mental fortress. It was not the same as it had once been; perhaps the central tower was a little crooked now and the walls weren't perfectly straight, but it would have to do.

The wound eventually scabbed over. In her quiet moments alone, she would pick at it without meaning to and relive the pain all over again. But with time, all wounds heal even though a scar might be left behind to mar what was once a whole heart and mind. Though a scar is simply one part of a story and as long as one learned from, it did not make the story any less beautiful.

Ino guarded herself more closely now. None had come as close as Sakura had. Barring the perfect person wandering into her life, she intended to keep it that way.

She still saw Sakura around the village. She seemed happy with her new relationship, though Ino couldn't help hoping it would end miserably. It took time and practice, but such thoughts faded away alongside her pain. She eventually stopped seeing her former love, making her fade into the background; just one more piece of living meat.

And Ino learned to breath again.


	10. Somniloquy

**_CONTENT GUIDE_  
Rating**: "T" for implied sex  
**World State** : Normal  
**Word Count** : 1,036  
**Summary** : Ino talks in her sleep, Sakura tries to shut her up.

* * *

"No, you're the f-frog, I'm not..."

The plaintive statement has no obvious source, but Sakura doesn't question it. Not when Naruto, in full queen regalia, is in the middle of declaring Sakura mentally unfit for the trials of the toaster oven. Sakura distresses over the condemnation; she had studied for years on the proper way to make toast out of chakra induction paper. Sasuke and Kakashi titter in the corner over mugs of beer, whispering mean gossip behind their hands while they blow bubbles with silly straws.

"It was  _one time_. Goddamn frogs..."

Sakura cracks one sleepy eye open as Ino mutters right in her ear and proceeds to steal the rest of the blankets.

"What's your problem, pig?" Sakura grumbled with a yank on her half of the bedding. Ino had already been cuddled up to Sakura's side but when Sakura reclaimed her portion of blanket, Ino banded one arm around Sakura's ribs like an iron restraint and threw one leg across her thighs.

"I'm not," Ino sighs around a soft snore, " _a frog_..." Ino nuzzled against Sakura's shoulder in a way that makes any lingering annoyance at being woken up at two in the morning disappate. Sakura rolled onto her side and slipped an arm around her girlfriend, rubbing small circles on her back; the most sure-fire way to help Ino into a deeper (and hopefully less-talkative) sleep.

Though the mind was more of Ino's forte, Sakura knew enough to realize that Ino's somniloquy was likely caused by stress. Her recent promotion to the head of T&I couldn't have come sooner, but for the things Ino had likely seen done to rogue nin should have been too much for anyone, especially for someone as sweet as Ino.

Sakura pressed a sleepy kiss to Ino's forehead and quickly fell back into a dream about Lee in a purple tutu dancing the cancan while Neji and Orochimaru waltzed circles around him.

* * *

The next day, Sakura took Ino out for a picnic in a quiet meadow and rubbed chakra into tense and knotted muscles.

* * *

"Mmm, rum ham..."

Sakura had been on the very edge of sleep. Liberal application of back rubs and hair strokes had put Ino out like a light. Unfortunately...

"Charlie lost the rum ham," Ino grumbled, eyebrows meeting in a disappointed knit. Sakura squinted up at the ceiling, puzzling over this newest line of non-sequiters. The rum ham was obvious; just soak the ham in rum and, boom, rum ham. But...

_What the hell kind of name is "Charlie?"_  Sakura wondered.

"Who is Charlie, pig?" Sakura asked after moment as Ino continued to bemoan the lost alcoholic treat.

"He makes spiders and...cats talk to each other," Ino snuffled.

Ah, a perfect explanation. Either a certified genius or a raving lunatic.

"Does Charlie know why you talk in your sleep?" Sakura ventured. Ino was quiet for a long while, her only response the quiet huff of her breath. Sakura felt her eyelids grow heavy when Ino finally responded.

"It's 'cause he lost the rum ham..." Ino whined before burying her face in her pillow.

* * *

The next morning Sakura brings Ino breakfast in bed before the blonde has to depart for T&I. Fried tomatoes on toast, eggs and coffee. A slender glass flute on the corner of the tray holds three flowers. A blue iris, a yellow lily, and a red rose; serenity, appreciation, and love. Ino had grumbled at the early hour Sakura had roused her, but her eyes widened at the gesture.

"You're being awful nice lately," Ino accuses suspiciously around a bite of tomato though her mouth is turned up at the corners and her eyes are glittering.

"What? I can't be nice just for the hell of it?" Sakura asks as she steals a bite of egg.

"I think you're just after all of this hot bod," Ino says with a gesture at herself like it's the only real conclusion. Sakura rolls her eyes.

"Please. Like I couldn't get it anyway."

Ino polishes off her breakfast in bed and presses a kiss to Sakura's cheek before getting up to start her day.

"Well, you're definitely getting it tonight," Ino tosses over her shoulder before vanishing into the bathroom.

Sakura wonders if an exhausted Ino is a quiet Ino and bets that she isn't.

* * *

"Sakura's the best, yanno?"

Sakura sighed. Her plan to completely wear her partner out had failed. She looked over at Ino, knowing that she was the only one to ever be treated to such a rare sight. Hair mussed, tiny love bite bruises on her neck, a line of drool from the corner of her mouth to the pillow.

"Is she?" Sakura asked after herself. She was beginning to wonder if it was true. She couldn't even de-stress her most precious person. Ino's voice was tiny and loaded with drowsy fondness.

"Yeah. She's...really the best."

Sakura felt her heart swell even as it sank a bit. She was just going to have to try harder. Maybe they could swing a trip to the hot springs in Yagakure; she knew Ino would like that. She reached out and brushed a few stray strands of hair from Ino's face.

"You know how much Sakura loves you?" she asked, feeling only a bit foolish for referring to herself in the third person. For a change, however, Ino had no further somniloquist ramblings this evening. She only nestled further into the blankets and made Sakura cringe as she nosed into her own patch of drool.

Sakura stared at the ceiling, plotting out the budget and when both of them could get time off for the trip as she drifted off.

* * *

When Ino was sure that Sakura was asleep, she cracked one eye open and wiped the drool from her cheek with the corner of the blanket. It had been an admittedly genius plan, but she felt a little guilty for the deception. All the same, she reveled in the extra attention Sakura had been showing her. With a quiet vow to pay her back in kind for all she had done and likely was planning to do, Ino turned over and fell into a deep, and silent, sleep.


End file.
